New Beginnings
by 0erbayunFang
Summary: When Hope Estheim moves away from the city he'd grown up in for all his life, he meets new friends, and new challenges. AU, rated T for language. CaiusxOC, SnowxSerah, eventual HopexLightning
1. Moving In

**A/U: My first chapter of my second story, hot off the press. Hope (why, Square, did you have to name him HOPE?) you enjoy it at least a little**

**Disclaimer: If I owned FF XIII, this wouldn't be here**

It was dawn in Palumpolum. Morning dew glistened on rooftops and on the grass as the sun gently glided higher, and already people were up and moving. Cars were whooshing past and trains had started their early morning hours some time ago.

At 7:15 am, Eden Standard Time, an overtired 15-year-old boy was sitting in compartment 14C, heading away from his first and only home. He had grown up at Palumpolum for all of his life. He and his necessities were supposed to be coming in to Bodhum in half an hour, but the way things were going, he was likely to be coming in at 8:00 instead of 7:30.

"Damn it," he muttered. All he wanted to do was sleep, but he knew that would be impossible. He could never trust the people on these trains. Last time he fell asleep on the train he woke up with lipstick all over his face. Thankfully his blush was enough that it covered the dark red of the stuff, and damn, was it hard to wash off afterwards.

The boy's name was Hope Estheim.

Hope stood at five foot six inches and had pure silver coloured hair, which he inherited from his mother, Nora. He wore a green sweater, which brought out the emerald green of his eyes, and dark blue jeans.

He wasn't very pleased to be leaving his home-town with any degree of permanence, to say the least, but his parents thought that a change of school and scenery would be good for him. He disagreed wholeheartedly. He didn't want to leave his best friend Maqui. But, unfortunately, this was his parents' decision, not his. Sure, he liked Bodhum, his new home, but he had no-one there, no friends, no other family. Nothing but memories of when he went on holiday with his parents.

Hope sighed as he continued staring out of the window at the slow but sure change of scenery. As the train rattled by, the city slowly disappeared and turned into brief countryside before more city appeared. He was in Bodhum.

"Attention all passengers," a cool female voice announced. Hope's head snapped up, keen to hear anything that would stop him from falling asleep. "We will be arriving at Bodhum Central Station in 15 minutes."

Hope directed his gaze back out of the window. _No, Toto, we're damn sure not in Kansas anymore, _he thought scathingly. He decided to pass a minute or two on his phone to see if he had any messages from Maqui or even his parents. Nope, nada, nothing.

Damn.

When the train finally stopped at his destination, Hope looked for any sign of his parents. At first, he could see nothing, but then he spotted his mother Nora's silver hair and his father's short brunette hair. He wound his way through the crowd separating him from them, and found himself in his mother's comforting embrace. "There you are! What on Pulse took you so long?"

"The train picked me up around 15 minutes late, and took forever to get here," Hope managed to say through a yawn. "What's the time?"

"About 8 am," Bartholomew replied, checking his watch. "We've been waiting for you since 7:30."

"No wonder I'm tired."

"I know you are, but we need to get home and start unpacking," Nora stated, hugging her son again. "You could probably have a nap at lunchtime if you really wanted to. Now, I know you were never a real fan of moving," she let him go and gave him an understanding look, "but do you think you could at least _try _to like it?"

"I'll try, but I'm not promising anything." _I'll probably fall asleep on the mattress, _Hope thought drily.

"That's all we're asking of you," Bartholomew ruffled his son's already untidy hair. "Come on, son. Let's get you to your new home."

Hope groaned inwardly. This was going to be a long day.

Hope sat in his dad's hired truck as they drove through the streets of Bodhum following Nora's car. Bartholomew and Hope didn't talk much, not to each other, at least; Nora still jokes about their 'legendary' silences. This time however, instead of being awkward, it gave Hope time to think about things.

Uncharacteristically Bartholomew broke the silence hanging over them. "It's your first big move. You excited?"

Sometimes Hope thought his father tried too hard to bond with him. His questions were almost always awkward, though this one wasn't too bad.

"I guess so," Hope replied quietly, and they lapsed into silence once more. He sighed softly and reached into his pocket for his phone and ear-pods, hoping to drown out the world for a little bit. After a while, his father nudged him. He took out his left ear-pod so he could hear Bartholomew.

"We're here," he said, smiling, and opened his door to get out.

All of a sudden Hope felt very nervous. It was strange. Why should he feel nervous about a house? He shook himself. _Snap out of it, _he chastised himself. _What's so scary about a house? _He pushed that thought aside and, head shaking, Hope jumped out of the truck and took in his new home.

It was quite a modest house, nowhere near what he expected. It was second-hand wood on the outside; as a result the colour was darker than usual. There was a little path that curved from the driveway, where he could see his mom was, to the front door. There were bushes lining one side of the path where the windows were, and the roof was flattish, with only a slight incline, and it was the same colour as the rest of the house, though it was shingles, not wood, and there were hedges surrounding the front of the house, leaving a wide gap for the driveway, which was concrete, and shielding the pathway from view.

"Wow," he muttered to himself. The house was actually nice. He was surprised to find that he liked it, and couldn't wait to see inside. As if reading his thoughts, Nora smiled and suggested that he go inside and unpack his clothes while she and Bartholomew unloaded the beds from the truck. Hope practically ran down the path and jumped up the two steps separating him from the front door. Opening it and stepping in, he just looked, taking in his surroundings.

The walls were painted white; hardly anything was inside apart from a couple of boxes. The floor was hardwood, a creamy brown colour. There were blackout shades on the windows and back door, which was three to four metres in front of him, and the trimming was the same colour as the floor – creamy brown. Hope couldn't help but open the back door and appreciate the back veranda, noticing that the house was set on a decline, and was raised at the back. Down six stairs and he was under a roof-like shelter, most likely built by the past owner. He then noticed the garage, which was actually a granny-flat. It even had its own kitchenette and bathroom. Hope went back up the steps to the back door, eager to explore the rest of the house.

Across the living room and to his left was another door, which led to the bedrooms and bathroom. The first bedroom he came across was to his immediate left through the doorway. It was easily the brightest room, though he couldn't say why; this room wasn't facing the sun in the morning or afternoon. It had cream-coloured carpet and slightly paler cream walls. The trimming was the same as everywhere else in the house, and it had a built-in wardrobe. Directly across from him from the doorway was the toilet, and to its right was the bathroom. To his immediate right was a hallway, which he continued down and came to the Master Bedroom. This room was almost the same as the other room, though it was larger and had a bigger built-in wardrobe. Everything else was the same, except the fan hanging under the roof of the room. Hope then backed out and saw a third door to his left as he exited the Master Bedroom. It was a 'blink and you miss it' sort of thing. He entered and saw his clothes in boxes in the far corner of the room. This room was exactly the same as the first room he came across, except that its window faced the sun in the morning, not that it made a difference – the window was blocked by an overgrown bush. The curtains were drawn – blackout curtains, of course – which made this room darker than the other rooms. Hope sent a brief plea to Etro that unpacking wouldn't take _too _long, put his ear-pods back in and started work on his clothes, cursing as his elbow hit the doorway hard.

Oh yeah, it was going to be a _very _long day.

At the same time, two streets down from where Hope was moving in, Serah Farron was just waking up. Her dishevelled hair was the same shade of pink as her mother's, Rosalie, and slightly darker than her sister Claire's, both of whom were still asleep. She had blue eyes so pale they were the colour of water almost, also inherited from her mother.

Serah groggily opened her eyes, but quickly closed them again as early morning sunlight blasted through her window and assaulted her half-asleep form. She groaned and buried her face into her pillow, throwing her blanket over her head. She sighed in relief, and then tried to go back to sleep, only to find that she was _just _awake enough not to be able to. She then braced herself for the almost blinding light still coming from her window and kicked off the covers. Only then did she remember that it was a Saturday, and for once she wasn't grounded. If she wasn't still half-asleep, she would've skipped around her room in joy. She and her friends had fun stuff planned for the weekend.

But first she had to brush her teeth; her mouth tasted like the bottom of a birdcage, so to speak. She also brushed the knots out of her long pink hair. She mentally planned the first couple of hours of the day as she brushed. She would have breakfast, pack for her sleepover at Vanille's place, then go back to bed and sleep for another hour or two, or until Claire or Rosalie woke up. Chances were, one of them would come in if she wasn't up.

Vanille Dia was Serah's best friend, and she lived three houses down from her. Her cousin, Fang Yun, was also living with them. She was orphaned shortly after her 10th birthday after both her parents died under mysterious circumstances no-one liked to talk about. She was good friends with Claire, who was the same age as her – 18. Why she was called 'Fang' nobody knew, but the girl – now woman – rolled with it because that's what she preferred. Nobody questioned her about her real name.

Claire hated her name, and after their father died at the same time as Fang's parents, she changed it to 'Lightning' in memory of him. Now she stuck to her alias, and insisted that Serah and Rosalie followed suit. No-on at high school knew her real name, and that was how she wanted things to stay.

As Serah rifled through her wardrobe, picking out what she could wear later that day and what she would bring with her to Vanille's, she mentally pictured what she would do once she got there.

"Oh, this is gonna be great," she whispered to herself. She had to whisper because Lightning could wake up at the sound of a pin drop, and if she was woken up against her will, things usually turned nasty for whom or whatever woke her, hence the fact that she'd gone through twelve alarm clocks during the last month alone. Serah shivered at the thought and kept packing. Once she was done (and after changing her mind over a dozen times over what she would bring – she decided to take her book and her laptop, just in case), she plodded to the kitchen to have breakfast. On a school day, she'd just grab an Up'n'Go from the fridge and drank it on her way, but since it was the weekend, she decided to have pancakes. She withdrew the frying pan from the depths of the cupboard, grabbed a bottle of pancake mix and started cooking. She was quite a good cook, she had learned from Lightning, who in turn had learnt from Rosalie, who was forced to find work after Serah's father had died. Serah was just 7 at the time, so she didn't have any concrete memories of her father; except for the smile he seemed to have reserved just for his daughters.

Rosalie now worked eight-hour shifts as a waitress down at Lebreau's, a bar/ café down the road. Child-friendly, of course, it was opposite the park, which in turn was in front of the lake; Lebreau's made the best hot chips. Vanille and Serah planned to meet Rainah down there around midday.

Rainah Tsarro only just moved to Bodhum a couple of months ago and immediately bonded with Vanille, who then introduced her to Serah. She liked her immediately, and conveniently enough, she lived just two streets down from them. She was, of course, invited to Vanille's along with Serah for the sleepover.

Serah was thinking through all of this as she finished cooking and fished for the maple syrup in the fridge. She quickly found it and poured a liberal amount onto her pancakes. She then grabbed a knife and fork from the top drawer and started eating, savouring the sweet taste of maple syrup and the buttery taste of pancakes. When she finished, she washed up her dishes, tip-toed past her sister's room and entered her room, where she collapsed onto her bed. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

**A/U: There you go; I even introduced my first OC character. I hope (God help me Square) that you liked it. Read and review, pretty please? I'll give you cookies! (I'm not joking, I made cookies today at school XD)**


	2. Life's Ups And Downs

**A/U: Second chapter, up at last! It hasn't been long, I know, but this is kind of taking priority until a new assignment comes along, so…yeah.**

**Envious sky, I dedicate this chappie to you, you'll know why at the end of it :D**

**Reviews:**

**ziel101 - glad you're liking the story, yes, it is AU, so hopefully (why, square) you won't be confused again ;)**

**Envious sky - glad you're enjoying the story, this chappie's for you ;)**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own FF XIII, but I wish I did. Who wants to help me steal it? Any takers on insane plans?**

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><p>Lightning woke up to the sound of her alarm clock, which she promptly threw against the wall, where it smashed. Looks like it's time for a new replacement. Again. That makes it thirteen alarm clocks she'd broken in the last month, not that she was counting. Oh well. She stretched, then tried to go back to sleep. When she realised she couldn't, she lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling for a bit. Why did she set her alarm on a weekend, anyway?<p>

Oh yeah, she was supposed to have a job interview at the Guardian Corps at 11:00, but they postponed it to the next day, she remembered now.

_Lovely, but now what am I supposed to do? _She looked around her room. Apart from her guitar propped up against her wardrobe, and the various posters on the walls, this room could belong to an adult.

Which, technically, she was.

She sat up, pushing the covers off her legs so she could stand, and heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair, which was a pale pink. She looked in the mirror. A beautiful 18-year-old woman with cerulean coloured eyes looked back. She was mildly surprised when she saw dark bruise-like circles under them, evidence that she woke up early every morning. Her usually creamy skin was paler than was usual, too.

She finished brushing her hair and pinned it to her left side, falling easily into routine. When she was done she returned to her room and changed into a white shirt and black pants, and left her room to find something to eat.

She walked to the kitchen , where she was her mother, Rosalie. She had the same blue eyes and pink hair as her daughters, though her eyes were a slightly fuller coloured blue. She was quick to smile and joke, though she did less since her husband was killed. Her laugh lines were evidence of this.

"Hey, Lightning," she greeted before flipping whatever she was cooking over. "Want some pancakes?"

"Yeah, sure," Lightning agreed before taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Is Serah up yet?"

"Uh, no, haven't seen her up yet, though I did see clean dishes on one side of the sink. I'm guessing she got up, had breakfast and went back to bed." She smiled wickedly. "Do you want to wake her up, or should I?"

Lightning smirked. "It _is _your turn."

"Lovely." She turned her attention back to the frying pan, where Lightning could see the pancakes cooking. She could feel her mouth watering, and only now felt just how hungry she was. Rosalie laughed merrily as she heard her daughter's stomach rumble.

"Hang on a second while I finish these, and then I'll wake your sister," she chortled. "After you've finished breakfast, and once Serah's ready, you can take her to Vanille's house, if you want. You could hang out with Fang, too."

"Sounds great. I don't have anything else to do today."

"How so?" Rosalie asked as she flipped the finished pancakes onto a plate and handed it to Lightning. "What about the interview?"

"They postponed it."

"Ah, ok. I'm going to go wake up Serah. Do you want to watch, or do you want to eat first?"

"I think I'll watch. It's always fun when you wake her up."

"Alright, let's go." Rosalie grabbed the frying pan and walked around the kitchen table, pulling her daughter out of her seat with her.

Lightning smirked. Serah was about to get a really _fun _surprise.

As they tiptoed into Serah's room, Rosalie couldn't help but chuckle under her breath. Lightning tiptoed over to the corner and grabbed Serah's toy moogle and handed it to Rosalie. She then stepped back to watch as her mother threw the moogle into the air, and with surprising speed and accuracy, hit it with the frying pan into the wall above Serah's head with a loud bang. She jerked awake, heart pumping, to find her toy moogle on her head and her mother still clutching the frying pan. Serah threw the moogle at Lightning, who dodged, grinning.

"Rise and shine," she said.

Serah, grumbling under her breath, slowly kicked the covers off of her, stood up and fished around in her wardrobe for clothes. Lightning nudged Rosalie, and they walked out of the room, Lightning shutting the door behind her.

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><p>As Serah dressed, she cursed under her breath. Batting a toy moogle at the wall was no way to wake a person up in the morning. When she finished dressing she checked her clock. It was almost 12:00, which meant it was almost time to go to Vanille's place. That cheered her up immensely. Serah walked to the bathroom to brush her hair again and put it into her usual side ponytail, all the while thinking of the revenge she would get on her mother and older sister, which cheered her up even more. With her toilette complete, she ducked into her room to get her bag, grabbing the loose gil she always kept under her pillow, and put it into her pocket. She then walked into the living room, where her older sister was waiting for her, seemingly done with her breakfast.<p>

"I'm taking you to Vanille's place," she announced abruptly from her place on the couch, where she was idly channel-surfing waiting for her sister. She turned off the TV, then stood up.

"Lightning, it's only three doors down from here," she reminded her. "And besides, I don't need protecting with Fang around."

"Actually, I'm going to see Fang, since I don't have anything else to do," Lightning corrected.

"Oh, ok."

"So, you ready to go?" Lightning asked her little sister. She almost always forgot to pack something.

"Of course I am!"

"You got everything? Toothbrush, toothpaste, etcetera?" Rosalie asked as she walked upstairs to the living room.

"Uh…"

"Go check."

"Fine."

As Serah ran off to collect her toiletries, Rosalie smiled at Lightning, who was staring a hole in the wall.

"You have fun at Fang's, ok? You look like you need it," she said. Lightning nodded, then continued staring a hole in the wall until Serah came back, toiletries in hand, and proceeded to stuff them into her bag. Panting slightly, she looked at her mother, who said, "Your pillow?"

Serah ran back into her room to fetch her pillow. Rosalie and Lightning looked at each other and started laughing.

"I can hear you! Stop laughing!" Serah yelled from her room. That only made them laugh harder. Sighing, Serah grabbed her pillow, and after a moment's thought, her toy moogle, which was resting on the floor after the incident that morning. She then ran out to the living room, which was next to the kitchen, and stuffed the moogle into her bag and picked it up. She found that her family was stil chuckling under their breath. Well, Rosalie was, Lightning was smiling slightly.

"Can we go now?" Serah huffed, ready to get out of the house and away from her family.

"Yeah, sure, we were just waiting for you –" Lightning was interrupted by her mother, who had started laughing again.

"Stop laughing!" Serah said as she stomped downstairs and out the door.

"See ya, mom," Lightning shot at Rosalie as she ran downstairs after her sister.

"Kids," Rosalie chuckled under her breath as the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Oh, Rose, could you cover for Arianna? She said she was too sick to come in today," Lebreau's voice answered, sounding distressed. "I know it's your day off, and I wouldn't ask you otherwise, but…"

"Yes, ok, see you in a jiff."

"Oh, thank Etro! You're a lifesaver!"

"You owe me one, though," Rosalie smiled. The more work she got, the more hours she worked, the more money she got to pay the bills and mortgage with.

"We'll talk about that when you get here, your shift starts soon."

"Ok, bye." As Rosalie hung up, she wondered what Arianna's real reason was for skipping out on work. The 17-year-old was never sick; Rosalie often envied her her immune system. It made the whole thing rather suspicious. She shrugged, and went to her room to get changed, all the while thinking about how tired she would be when she got home.

* * *

><p>Hope was just about done with his clothes when his mother called, "Lunchtime!" He sprinted out of his room and into the living room, where his parents were waiting with lunch, which were sandwiches. At that point, Hope didn't care what they were, as long as they were edible. Nora smiled at his son's apparent impatience.<p>

"Eat up, because that's all we're getting until dinner, and make sure you save some for me," she said as she watched her boys dig in. she chuckled under her breath watching them. She decided to take a walk as she waited for them to finish up.

As she went outside and to the end of the driveway, she noticed a girl watching the house. Was she waiting for someone? Nora waved, hoping to catch her attention. The girl waved back, and walked over to Nora. "Hey there, are you new here? I haven't seen you around here before," the girl said, and Nora smiled.

"No, we've just moved in. My name's Nora," she replied, holding out her hand for the girl to shake. She did. "Call me Ari, everyone else does."

"Ok, Ari." The name rolled unfamiliarly on her tongue. "How old are you?"

"I just turned 17," she replied, grinning.

"Well, that's great! Do you have any family?"

"Uh, no, my parents died in a car accident when I was five," Ari admitted. "I live and work at Lebreau's, the café just down the street here, and to the left. You should come by sometime." Ari pointed down the street.

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, I need to get going, my shift starts soon."

"Ok. It was nice to meet you, Ari."

"Nice to meet you too, Nora." Ari smiled and turned to walk to her car.

As she watched the silver-haired woman – Nora, go back inside, she got a phone call. As she answered, she knew automatically who it was.

"Hey boss," she greeted smoothly.

"Hey yourself. Where are they?"

"They're inside right now. I just met the woman."

"Good. Meet me here," he rattled off directions, "and we'll plan on what we're gonna do next."

"Gotcha. See ya soon." As she hung up she saw someone else sit on the edge of the driveway. That must be Nora's son, Hope. He definitely had her hair.

She turned her back on the boy and walked to her car.

Hope watched as the mysterious blue-haired girl walk calmly to her car. He briefly considered going over to say hi, but he pushed that thought aside as he stood up and walked back inside. He felt a tingling sensation at the base of his neck, and instinctively knew he was being watched. He turned around to see an empty street, completely devoid of any human activity except himself.

Weird.

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><p><strong>AU: I love leaving suspenseful endings, they're delightfully amusing. **

**Read and review, please please please! It will help my sanity and coax me onward :D **


	3. New Friends

**A/N: third chapter up! I haven't had many reviews, sure, but I checked the hit list and found that a lot of people at least looked at my story, and I'm happy with that!**

**Reviews:**

**Envious sky: of course you can help ;)**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own FFXIII, but I'm planning on it in the near-future ;)**

**On with the story**

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><p>"Serah!" Lightning called as her little sister stomped to Vanille's house, clutching her pillow and her bag on her shoulders. Lightning cursed under her breath as she ran to catch up to her.<p>

"Serah, goddamnit! Wait for me!"

Serah huffed, but stopped at her friend's driveway as she waited for Lightning to catch up to her.

"There was no reason to storm off like that," Lightning grumbled.

Serah gave her sister an annoyed look, making her sigh.

"Serah, I didn't even laugh, that was mom! You know she needs to laugh even more now that…now that he's gone! There's no need to take it out on me," Lightning reminded her.

Serah sighed but gave in. "Fine. You're forgiven. Let's get inside, shall we?" She walked up to the front door and knocked once. The door opened immediately, a 15-year-old girl standing beside it. She had bright red curls tied up in two bunches on either side of her head, and her eyes always sparkled.

"Serah! You're here!" At once the strawberry-blond was caught up in a giant hug. She smiled.

"Hey, Vanille." Vanille stepped back and noticed Lightning standing awkwardly behind her sister. "Oh, hey Lightning!" Vanille exclaimed. "Fang's in her room."

"Yeah. It's good to see you, Vanille." She then stepped past the shorter redhead and entered the house.

"Come on in, Serah. We can put your stuff in my room."

"Ok," Serah agreed.

_Fang's Room_

A raven-haired woman was sitting on her bed, listening to music when a short knock startled her. She looked up to find Lightning leaning against the door frame.

"Hey, Fang," Lightning greeted.

Fang smirked. "Sit down if you want."

Lightning sat down on the edge of the bed, already deep in thought.

"Hey Lightning, why are you here? Thought you had some sort of interview with the GC?"

Lightning looked steadily at Fang. "A job interview, yeah. They postponed it to tomorrow."

"Just like them. Thought it would be something along those lines," Fang said. "Damn. So, since you had nothing to do, you decided to visit little old me?"

Lightning cracked a smile. "Something like that." She then grabbed her iPod from her pocket and listened to her music. She didn't have to make small talk with Fang; their silences weren't awkward enough for that. In fact, they weren't awkward at all. Fang was generally a silent person unless she was with friends. Lightning, in turn, was a solitary person, very quiet around people. They weren't popular, nor did they think they were any better than anyone else. So it was surprising that when they first met, they hated each other, until Lightning's father died. Fang was the only one who understood, and they eventually became friends.

They continued to sit there in silence. Fang could hear Lightning's music over her own, but didn't say anything. Lightning was so deep in her thoughts, she barely noticed Fang getting up and leaving. She decided she would do the same.

Meanwhile, in Vanille's room, Serah and Vanille were planning what they would do.

"I was thinking that we could walk down the street in Lolita dresses and see what people would think. You know, just an experiment." Vanille winked.

"Oh, man. Can we wait until Rainah gets here before you start planning insane ideas? How 'bouts we go to Lebreau's and get some hot chips? We need to meet her there anyways."

"Crap! I completely forgot! What time is it now?" Serah checked her watch. "Um, around 12:30."

"Double crap! We're late!"

"Then let's go, otherwise she'll think we've ditched her," Serah suggested.

"Ok. Do you have the gil?"

"Yep."

"Awesome." Vanille's face lit up. "Let's go."

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><p>Rainah sat at one of the tables waiting. Damnit, they were half an hour late! What on Pulse was taking them so long? Before she could worry too much more, a glint of pale pink caught her eye. She looked up to see Serah and Vanille running flat-out toward her. Rainah stood up.<p>

"There you are! What on Pulse took you so damn long?" Rainah asked. "I thought you'd ditched me!"

"Told you," Serah stage-whispered to Vanille.

"Uh, we were setting up where we were gonna sleep, and then we sat down and talked, and I lost track of time." Vanille smiled sheepishly. "Um, don't kill me?"

Rainah sighed. "Forgiven. Serah, did you remember to bring-"

"Gil? Yeah, I did," Serah interrupted proudly, digging in her pocket for the money.

"Awesome, let's go." And with that, Rainah walked over in the general direction of Lebreau's. "Aw, man, we just got here!" Vanille huffed, almost doubling over. Serah sighed.

"Come on, Vanille, or do you want to stay here all loner?"

Vanille frowned, in thought, but her decision was made for her as her stomach rumbled.

"Hey, wait for me!"

_Estheim Residence_

As Hope slept, he dreamed. He saw a strawberry-blond girl, hair falling over her left shoulder. She smiled warmly at him, making Hope's heart skip a couple of beats. She leaned forward and hugged him, whispering in his ear, "We'll meet again, sooner than you think." She then stepped back and melted into the mist surrounding them.

"No, wait!" Hope yelled. He didn't know her, had never seen her before, but already felt he had to follow her. He ran after her, and kept running, not getting tired, not stopping. He had to reach her again. He couldn't think, nor could he stop. As he ran, he caught sight of a pale pink gleam just in front of him. It was her! He ran even faster, wanting to catch up to her, wanting to ask her what she meant by "We'll meet again soon". All of a sudden, he was falling.

Hope gasped, and jolted awake. He was lying on his mattress, surrounded by empty boxes previously containing his clothes, his books and various other knickknacks. He sighed, lost in thought. Already he was forgetting the finer details of his decidedly strange dream. All he could think of was the girl he saw. He tried to remember what he could of her. Her strawberry-blond hair, naturally falling over her left shoulder. Her cerulean eyes, eyes that sparkled in the dim light of his dream. Her lips, curved in a beautiful smile. Her creamy skin, with just a faint blush colouring her cheeks. He had to see her again. Was she going to be at his new school? How old was she? What was her name? These questions swirled around his brain, distracting him. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of his distracting thoughts. All of a sudden he felt exhausted. The move was taking a greater toll on him than he thought. He needed to walk around.

He stood up and stretched. He looked at his watch. It was 12:50. _I guess I could explore a bit. I need to know my way around. _He walked out of his room and turned left into the living room, where he could hear his mom and dad talking in the kitchen.

"Hey, mom! Can I go outside?" Hope called.

"Oh, good, you're up. How'd you sleep?" Nora called from the kitchen.

"Not too bad. Can I go outside and explore? I won't be out long."

"Sure, hon. Just make sure you're back by-" pause "-2:30."

"Ok, will do. Thanks, mom." Hope smiled. He stepped out into the noonday sun and stopped, thinking about where he would go. He decided to continue down the street and turn left. As he walked his mind filled with images of the girl from his dream. What did she mean? Who was she? Why did he dream about her? Was she part of his future? He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the line of shops just in front of him until he tripped over the curb. He cursed under his breath, rubbing his ankle. He then noticed one of the shops sold hot chips, and patted his pockets for gil. Thank Eden, he found some spare change and counted it. $3.40 worth of change winked in the sun. Hope smiled. Looks like it was his lucky day. He went inside the shop, noticing the sign that said "Lebreau's". Was that the shop's name? Hope walked up to the counter, where a pretty brunette was standing, ready to take orders.

"E-excuse me, miss." The woman looked across at Hope, and then smiled. Hope noticed she had almost golden-coloured eyes. "Hello, and welcome to Lebreau's! How may I help you?"

"Um, can I get…" Hope scanned the menu quickly, "…a small hot chips, with chicken salt?"

"Sure you can. Anything else?"

"Uh, nope," Hope replied.

"Ok, that'll be $3.40."

Hope handed over the money, then sat down at an empty table to wait. Sure, it's her job, but she was pretty nice. Hope tried hard to stop his mind from wandering to the girl from his dream, but it was difficult. He almost missed his order. Hope then exited the shop and wandered across the street to the park, where he sat down on one of the swings, eating. He was surprised to find that they were good, almost too good. Palumpolum never sold chips of this quality. Suddenly he heard voices behind him. He looked back and the first thing he noticed was the glint of strawberry-blond in the sunlight. He was overloaded with thoughts of the girl in his dream. This girl looked almost exactly the same, only younger, with a subtly different face structure and tiny hints of baby fat still clinging to her cheeks. Her eyes were almost exactly the same colour, only more transparent, like water. Suddenly she stood up, with an iced-coffee in her hand, and ran over to the other swing, right next to Hope's. She smiled at him, reminding him of the other girl he saw.

"Hey, there!" she said, still smiling.

"Uh, hi," Hope replied, suddenly feeling _very _shy.

"What's your name? I've never seen you around here before. Did you just move here?" she fired off. Hope smiled slightly at her eagerness which probably had something to do with the iced-coffee she was still clinging to.

"Um, my name is Hope, Hope Estheim. I did just move here, today, actually."

"Cool! Hang on a sec." And she shouted to her friends still sitting at the table, "Hey Vanille, Rainah, come over here!" They slowly got up from their table and walked over to their friend, looking slightly confused.

"Hope, this is Vanille Dia," she gestured to the small redhead, who curtsied, "and this is Rainah Tsarro, she just moved here too, from Palumpolum." She then gestured to the brunette, who waved. "Guys, this is Hope Estheim."

"Nice to meet you," Rainah greeted calmly, obviously not shy. "Where'd you move here from?"

"I just moved here from Palumpolum, too," Hope replied. He was starting to get used to the attention.

"Oh, wow! Yeah, I thought I recognised you from somewhere, that's why Serah came over here. She wanted to check."

"And I was right!" Serah chirped, and everyone laughed, Hope included.

"As I was saying, I thought I recognised you, you went to my school before I moved. You're friends with Maqui, right?" Rainah continued.

Hope, not feeling shy anymore, agreed.

"He's my cousin, by marriage, of course," Rainah said. "Oh! And this is Serah Farron, she has an older sister, Lightning Farron, no-one here knows her real name, except Serah here, but it's not like she's telling."

"My sister can be scary sometimes, just a head's up. She's friends with Vanille's cousin, Fang, who's living with Vanille's family until she can get a place of her own. She's been living here since her parents were killed in a car accident. Don't say anything about that to her, or she'll get emotional," Serah warned. "Oh! Do you want to meet them? Lightning and Fang? They're at Vanille's, just up the hill."

"Uh, sure, hang on a sec, I'll call mom, I was only supposed to be out for a little while." Hope pulled out his phone and called the new home number. Nora answered immediately.

"Hello?"

"Hey mom, it's me. I've just met some new friends, and they want to know if I can go to their place with them," Hope said in a rush. Nora laughed.

"Ok, then, go ahead. Be back at 5:00, please."

"Yep. See you when I see you." Hope shut his phone and said, "Yes, I'm going. Lead the way."

Serah skipped around in a circle and grabbed Hope's arm, leading him in the right direction while her friends giggled at the sight.

"She's definitely had too much coffee," Rainah whispered to Vanille.

"You'd know, you're the one who gave her the idea," Vanille whispered back.

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><p><strong>AU: Hope's met some new friends, how cute! Next chappie will be up soon, in the meantime, read and review please!**

**I recommend Envious sky's story 'Deceiving Love', for reasons you will understand when you read the common character ;) **


	4. First Sight

**A/U: (2,855 words, fantastic) Hi there! Fourth chappie is here, yay! I really hope (why square, why) that you enjoy this one …**

**Reviews:**

**k.u.r.e.y.u.k.u – haha, you just wait. No, if it were Rose, I'm guessing it would be really, **_**really **_**awkward. Glad you're enjoying it, here's the next chapter :)**

**ziel101 – mwahahaha, yes I did cuz I'm evil like that lol, I'm really glad you're enjoying this, having fans is a new experience for me ;)**

**Vecktus – thank you, very much appreciated. I'm a fast writer; it's kind of…me.**

**On with the story.**

As Hope followed his new friends to Vanille's house, his thoughts wandered again to the pink-haired girl in his dream. Was she Serah's sister? Was she just a figment of his imagination? Why did he dream about her? These questions floated around in his head until they finally reached the house and entered. Vanille immediately gave him the tour, showing him down the hallway first.

"This is my room, right down the end there," Vanille pointed down the short hallway. "Toilet and bathroom is to the right, mom and dad's room is to the left, and Fang's room is next to it just there."

"Ok," Hope agreed, trying to process and remember where everything was. Vanille then walked him through the living room and left to the dining room, and left again to the kitchen. Just behind the kitchen was the laundry, and behind the dining room was the backyard.

"So that's about it. Oh! I forgot Fang and Lightning! I'll go get them!" and with that, Vanille skipped into the hallway to fetch them while Hope waited with Serah and Rainah in the living room. Finally Vanille skipped back and sat down next to Rainah as Lightning and Fang entered the room.

Hope's mouth almost dropped. It was her, the girl from his dream. She wasn't a figment of his imagination. It was her.

"That's my sister, Lightning," Serah explained. "And the brunette behind her is Fang."

Lightning.

She looked just like the girl in his dream. She had pale pink hair, with faint blond streaks. Her hair fell over her left shoulder. Her eyes were a pale blue, cerulean. She had creamy skin, like in his dream. She was dressed in a white shirt and black pants, and she wore black boots.

"My name's Hope, Hope Estheim." Hope introduced himself. He felt incredibly shy around this woman.

"Pleased to meet you," Lightning replied. "You moved here from Palumpolum?"

"Yeah, today actually."

"Ok."

Lightning sat down on the couch. Fang sat down with her, pulling out her iPod. Hope leaned against the couch, thoughts whirling around in circles. She was beautiful! Did she have a boyfriend? Did she go to his new school? Why did he dream about her? Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

Serah watched Hope's face when Lightning entered the room. His jaw almost dropped, his eyes widened in brief recognition before his face became a blank canvas. He'd seen her somewhere else before, but where? And if he'd never met her before, why did he have that reaction? It was highly suspicious. Oh well. Serah continued to watch as he introduced himself.

Suddenly Lightning's eyes became blank and her lips parted slightly. If Hope hadn't been watching her so carefully, he wouldn't have noticed or reacted as quickly when she fell forward toward the floor. Hope's hands flew out and caught her before she fell too far and hit the ground.

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><p><em>Lightning looked around her. She was surrounded by mist. Why wasn't she on the couch in Fang's house? Why was she here?<em>

_She could see a soft glow in between the walls of mist. Her instinct told her to move toward it. Her body moved automatically toward the glow. She burst through the wall of mist to find the boy she had just met – Hope – standing there. She knew – she didn't know how she knew – that she was invisible to him, and that she was in a place where time meant nothing. She was thoroughly surprised when she saw herself form from the mist, just in front of her, and walk slowly toward him. Her mirror-self's back was to Lightning, so all she saw was her pink hair, so like her sister's and mother's. She saw Hope's face light up at the sight of her. She saw herself move forward and hug him, and saw his face blush a deep scarlet. She saw her lips move in a whisper at his ear, and her words echoed in her mind._

"We will meet again, sooner than you think." _The words echoed back and forth, repeating themselves inside her head. Her mirror-image then stepped back and disappeared into the mist. She heard Hope's yell just as clearly as the whisper._

"No! Wait!" _he pleaded. He started running after where her mirror disappeared into the mist, now burning bright as a candle flame. Hope seemed oblivious to this as he kept running, straight for the bright mist. Lightning forgot she was nothing but a ghost to him and ran after him through the mist, ignoring the slowly appearing darkness encroaching on her vision. She had almost caught up to him when she caught a glimpse of pink in the distance, but something was off about it…she finally pinpointed the difference when she saw Hope's silver hair flash below the pink. It was a mirror! Hope suddenly picked up the pace when he saw the pink flash. He must've thought it was her! She had to stop him before the shadows took her away. She knew if she didn't stop him, something awful would happen._

"_Hope! No, Hope, it's not really me!" she managed to shout before the darkness closed in on her. '_Damn,' _was her last thought, and she knew no more._

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><p>In the real world, Lightning was thrashing about in Vanille's bed, while Hope and Serah watched, unable to do a thing about it.<p>

Hope had only known Lightning a short while, but already felt a deep connection with her. He didn't know if she felt the same, but he knew he wanted to protect her with all of his being. Serah, being Lightning's sister, wanted to be able to protect her the way Lightning wanted to protect Serah. As they watched, Lightning stopped thrashing and whispered one thing before she went completely still. Hope was nearest, so only he could hear her.

"No," she whispered. Hope leaned forward. _She must be suffering so much,_ Hope thought. _What is she dreaming about?_ Hope's thoughts were interrupted when Lightning continued whispering.

"No, Hope, don't – it's not really me," she breathed. Hope's jaw dropped. Good thing his back was to Serah, or she would know something was up.

"No!" Lightning sat up abruptly, breathing heavily as if she'd just had a marathon, then fell back down, hand to her head. Hope flinched, but then leaned over her, confusion and worry clearly written over his face. Lightning met his green eyes with her own, confused. Then memories of her bizarre dream/vision/whatever overloaded her mind and her vision, and she gasped. Then her vision cleared and she could see Hope's concerned face again. She sat up, mentally shaking herself. She suddenly felt protective of the 15-year-old boy standing next to her. It was only then that she noticed Serah near the foot of the bed. Vanille was sitting on the chair facing her desk and Fang and Rainah standing in the doorway. All of them were looking at her with confusion and worry in their eyes; she could see it as clearly as a pool of clean water. She cleared her throat. "What happened? The last thing I remember is being on the couch…"

"You were," Rainah agreed. "But then…" she looked toward Hope, who continued for her.

"Your eyes went blank and you almost fell onto the floor-"Hope started, but was interrupted by Serah, who said, "He caught you just before you would've landed on your head or neck." Hope gave her a look that said,_ thank you, but shush! _She got the message and motioned for Hope to continue.

"You started thrashing around; I could barely keep my hold on you. Then Fang noticed and carried you to Vanille's room. You apparently didn't like to be carried, because you were fighting her pretty hard, either that or you weren't having a very nice dream or vision or…you know, whatever it was," Hope continued. "She put you on the bed. You relaxed for a bit, and then started thrashing again. We were waiting for you to wake up, and now you have." He smiled, his eyes shining. "We're glad you're ok now."

"Uh, thank you for your concern." Lightning looked everyone in the eye, saving Hope's for last. His emerald eyes showed the most concern. "But I'm fine now."

"Are you sure, Lightning?" Serah couldn't help but ask. Lightning looked at her little sister with a small smile and replied, "Yes, Serah, I can honestly say that I'm fine now. Could you guys please go outside?"

Glad that Lightning was ok for now, the others left her to it, until Hope was the last one left in the room alone with Lightning.

"I should tell you that a couple minutes before you woke up, you were whispering stuff," Hope began nervously.

"What kind of stuff, Hope?" Lightning was curious. She didn't remember whispering out loud. "What did I say?"

"You said my name, so quiet only I could hear it. And then you said something like, 'Don't, that's not me,'" he answered, a slight blush creeping into his cheeks. He hoped, for the love of Etro, that she didn't notice it.

"Um…" Lightning was speechless for a moment. She said that out loud? That was a little embarrassing. She hated showing her vulnerabilities, especially to people she didn't know.

_Should I tell him what I saw? _Her decision was made for her when Hope asked, "So…what exactly did you see?"

Lightning sighed, running her hands through her hair. "I'm trying to remember…"

Hope turned the desk chair so it faced Lightning and sat down, waiting patiently for her to speak. He didn't have to wait long.

"At first I couldn't see anything, I was surrounded by mist. I was confused, to say the least. But then I saw a soft glow through the mist, so I walked towards it. I came through the mist and saw you. And here's one of the weird parts." Lightning paused, trying to remember clearly what she saw next. "I saw myself, but it wasn't actually _me._ It was a mirror image of me." She shook her head. "Anyway, I saw her walk towards you, and give you a hug. She whispered in your ear, but somehow I could hear it. She said, 'We will meet again, sooner than you think.'"

Hope's face drained of colour. She was describing his dream in perfect detail, only through her eyes. What on Pulse was going on?

Lightning kept going. "She disappeared into the mist, like she wasn't even there. Then you yelled 'Wait, no, come back,' and started running after her through the mist, which was glowing bright as the sun, but you didn't seem to notice. I ran after you, trying to stop you. I knew that if I didn't, bad things would happen. I saw a mirror in front of you, but you didn't see that. You only saw the reflection of my hair, but you thought it was actually me, or my mirror image, or whatever. I shouted to you, but you didn't seem to hear me."

"Don't, it's not really me," Hope breathed. He wasn't going deaf, then, when he heard her whispering.

"Yeah. The darkness took me away, then, and I woke up." Lightning only then saw that Hope was paler than when she first started speaking. "What is it?"

Hope's eyes met with hers, and they held a hint of concern. At least her heart wasn't completely made of stone. _She misses nothing, _Hope thought.

"Nothing, just…thinking." _About how my dream and your vision are connected. _Hope could feel that his life had taken a weird and twisted turn, one that would probably change his life, and he hasn't even started school yet! He needed a break from the weird and twisted stuff, at least for a bit.

"I'm gonna go and give you some privacy to think. It was very nice to meet you," Hope said politely, all the while trying to stop his voice from showing strain, or Lightning would almost certainly pick up on it.

"Thank you. It was nice to meet you, too. Maybe we'll see each other again some other time," Lightning responded just as politely. Funny, she didn't feel awkward around Hope, not nearly as much as she felt around others, which confused her. Before her vision, he was just another one of Serah's friends. A complete and total stranger. Now, he was something she had to protect, almost like a little brother. She just couldn't understand it.

_I just need sleep, that's all, _she thought. _I'll deal with all of this when I wake up._

_Living Room_

Hope sat on the couch in the living room, lost in thought. He wasn't the only one. Serah, Rainah and Vanille were deep in their own thoughts. Fang was listening to her music. All of them were thinking about Lightning's collapse just an hour before. Has it only been an hour? Hope checked his phone and his eyes widened. It was 4:45, which meant he needed to go, or he'd be grounded faster than anything. Hope stood up, and everyone's eyes went to him. He smiled and said "It's ok, I have to go."

"Ok." Everyone waved goodbye except Serah, who asked, "Can I talk to you?" Hope nodded and they walked outside together. Serah turned towards him.

"I'll tell you if Lightning has any more of those…things, ok?" Hope nodded, but Serah wasn't done. "Um, did Lightning tell you about what happened?"

_Oh, shit, should I tell her? _Hope decided to save the information until Lightning wanted to share it. Already Hope could tell she wasn't the sort of person who would want others to share her private stuff to anyone, even her own sister. "Uh, no, she didn't."

"Then why did you stay there? Did she want to talk to you?" Hope shook his head and replied, "No, I left her room and went to the bathroom." Hope didn't like lying, especially to Serah; she was just too sweet to lie to. But he didn't want to share Lightning's private business if he could help it.

"Oh, ok. Well, see you tomorrow, or at school, whatever you prefer."

Hope laughed and replied, "I need a break to prepare for the whole 'new school, new home' thing. I'll talk to you when I can, though."

"Sounds good. Well, I'll see you around," Serah said, then turned and walked back inside.

As Hope walked home his mind was swamped with memories and thoughts of what happened in the last couple of hours. He shook his head to get rid of them before they completely took over his mind and tried to focus on getting home _without _getting hit by a car.

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><p><strong>AU: as always, reviews would be much appreciated, if this seems a bit rushed, I'm really sorry, but I've been working on my speech for school at the same time, so…yeah. (Yes, I'm only 14, is that really so much of a surprise? I mean, think about it.)**

**Hopefully (can I kill his name, at least?) my next chapters will have more details, making them longer, and passing more time for you guys.**

**Also, I recommend 'Sweet, sweet ignorance' by seeker of the skies **


	5. Sweet Dreams

**A/N: (6,674 words...biggest chappie i have ever written, go me!) *peeks around corner* is it safe to come out? yes, i know i am very, VERY late in giving you this chapter, but i assure you there are good reasons for it...reasons you probably won't wanna hear at the moment.**

**No-one reviewed! i'm quite sad now :(**

**aaaaanyway, here's your chappie, hope you like, and once you're done, for the LOVE OF ETRO, REVIEW! it shall help my barely-there sanity.**

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><p><em>Estheim Residence<em>

Hope woke up on Monday morning with his alarm buzzing. He glared at the little clock that refused to understand the meaning of 'five more minutes' for a moment, then, deciding against throwing it against the wall, slowly kicked the covers off and stood up, stretching. He hated Mondays anyway, but this one sucked even more because this would be the start of his first day at a new school. He trudged over to his chest-of-drawers containing his clothes and dressed, thinking.

The day before was busy, as they had to unpack the rest of their stuff, which, thankfully, was only little stuff, since Hope's parents got the big stuff, like the beds, inside while he was off 'gallivanting with his friends' as his father put it. They also had to get him enrolled at his new school, Bodhum High School.

Dressed in a simple jeans-and-a-T-shirt outfit, Hope walked to the kitchen, where his mother stood, waiting for the kettle to boil. Nora was always an early riser. Hope and Bartholomew always wondered how the hell she managed to get up at a ridiculously early time without fail every morning. It baffled them to no end.

"Make sure to keep quiet, your father's still asleep, of course," Nora reminded Hope gently. Hope nodded and reached up to the top of the pantry, where the boxed cereal sat waiting for him, calling to him…

Well, how could he resist that? He grimaced as his stomach growled like a bear. Nora, hearing it, chuckled.

"Careful, your father's still asleep," Nora joked, pouring her coffee. Hope rolled his eyes and poured his cereal – Cheerio's – into the bowl, closely followed by the milk. He sat down, taking care not to spill his cereal. Something told him wearing breakfast to school might just make the wrong impression on his fellow classmates and teachers. Seeing her son eating one Cheerio at a time made Nora roll her eyes at Hope and say, "If you want to stall going to school, that's just not going to do it."

"Damn, how'd you figure it out?" Hope was half-joking, half-serious. Nora sighed and sat down at the table.

"Because, and don't be too shocked, I was a teenager once," she sipped her coffee, smiling, before going on, "and, even 20-odd years ago, going to a school where you knew no-one _royally sucked_."

Hope actually managed to smile, despite the fact that he too had to go through this. He knew that if he wanted to get past living in the real world, he had to get past everything else life could throw at him. He didn't want to rely on someone else to get him through everything.

Hope quickly finished his breakfast – he didn't want to be late for school. He grabbed his bag and Nora pulled him in for a hug.

"You'll be fine," Nora smiled, and hugged him again. Hope then opened the door, and stepped out into the cool autumn air.

He still had the prickly feeling along the back of his neck, the one that told him he was being watched.

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><p>She watched from her car as the silver-haired boy walked across to the pathway, frowning. How could this boy be as "special" as her boss says? He looked like just another kid to her. For his sake, she hoped he could get through his first day at school, at least. She scratched the nape of her neck absentmindedly, where her tattoo rested. It consisted of many black arrows jutting out in different directions, upward at the top, intertwining. A red dot, almost like a pupil, rested at its centre. The woman let her mind drift back…<p>

_She looked at the file in disbelief. A silver-haired boy with emerald-green eyes stared back at her, a faint smile gracing his lips. _

"This _is my assignment? This – boy – is who I have to watch? He's just a kid." She could tell this would be a waste of her time already._

"_He's not just a kid, Ari," a man's voice emanated from just in front of her, his face lost in shadow. "He's special. He has a hidden gift that has yet to manifest, a gift that could change the outcome of this war."_

"_The War between the Worlds has nothing to do with this kid!"_

"_Not yet. But soon it will," another voice, a girl's this time, floated from beside the man. Her voice was pure and soft, yet it was a voice no-one could ignore._

"_The seeress is right. You must not ignore this task, Ari. Keep an eye on him. He will soon move to Bodhum. When he does, watch him. Never let him leave your sight. Never forget, there are others who will want this gift, who will want to take him by force. Stop them."_

"_You want me to be this kid's-this kid's bodyguard?" Ari couldn't believe what her boss was saying. She couldn't believe she was even involved in this. How could this boy's fate intertwine with the War between the Worlds? She couldn't believe it. She was almost in shock._

Pull it together, _her mind insisted. She mentally shook herself._

"_Fine. I'll do it."_

"_Good, Ari. You will be paid, of course."_

"_Of course."_

"_We'll be in touch."_

She shook her head ruefully. She remembered that day. Almost as clear as –

_NO! Don't even try to think about it! It will only cause you pain, and you don't need that distraction. Now follow the kid. _Sometimes the voices in her head were more sane and in control than she was. She didn't need to worry about enrolling as a new student; she had that covered two weeks before the kid arrived. Sometimes having a seeress on your side was very convenient. Come to think of it, the Boss didn't actually answer her question.

_Wonder why that was. _Closing her eyes for a brief instant, she saw her mother's beautiful smile. Oh, how she missed her. She would give anything to see her again, even for a day.

Opening her eyes, she started her car.

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><p>As Hope walked, he let his mind drift away in the direction of Lightning. He couldn't get over how beautiful she was. He found himself cataloguing every detail he could of her. His sharp memory was a talent of his. He could find anything, remember everything he encountered. So remembering her was easy enough. He thought of her blue eyes, sometimes cold as ice, other times warm. He thought of her hair, naturally falling over her left shoulder, of her beautiful voice. Her lips, a darker pink than her hair. He remembered it all, even how she felt in his arms.<p>

_Do I have a crush on her? _He wondered. This couldn't possibly be normal, always thinking of a person of the opposite sex. He couldn't stop, though. She was so beautiful…

Only then did he notice that while he was lost in his thoughts, his feet had carried him to the gates of Bodhum High School. Its motto – _Together We Achieve – _was engraved on the brick wall next to the green gates of his new hell. Sighing to himself, he walked inside. He could see Serah was there already, in the arms of what looked like her boyfriend. He was blond, with a black bandana wrapping around his head. He wore a grey coat over a black t-shirt, and black gloves. He also wore black pants, and on his feet he wore black boots. He looked intimidating, almost, like he wasn't one to be crossed. Also in this group were Vanille and Rainah, who both waved him over.

"Hope! Good to see you!" Rainah greeted as Hope joined them.

"Hey," was his reply. Serah waved from her boyfriend's arms. "This is Snow Villiers, my boyfriend. Snow, this is Hope Estheim. He just moved here from Palumpolum."

"Uh, hi," Hope said. Snow smiled back, obviously not as intimidating in character than he looked. "Hey, Hope," Snow replied, holding his hand out for Hope to shake. Hope did so, noticing Snow's firm grip. "What class're you in?"

"Uh…" Hope realised he didn't know where the hell his classes were. Serah laughed, but not in a rude way.

"How about I show you where the office is, so you can get your timetable, and Snow and I can show you around today?" Serah offered. Hope nodded.

"Sure, thanks," he replied, a smile gracing his features. "I'd like that."

"It's settled then. Come on, the office is just down here." And with that, Serah hopped out of the circle of Snow's arms and led the way to the office, Snow and Hope just behind her. From where the group was, they had a clear view of the gates Hope came through, and from the group, left down the path was a huge building that could only be the school hall. To the right from the hall was another set of gates, and next to them was the office building, namely, the student windows. That was where Serah headed, with Hope and Snow in tow. She walked purposefully up the stairs to the right window, where they could see a tired-looking office lady manning it. She had long brown hair, tied in a plait down her back, and liquid-looking brown eyes. She smiled tiredly as she saw Serah. "Ah, Serah, good to see you. Not in trouble, I hope."

"No, miss. Um, my friend Hope is new here, and he doesn't have a timetable. He also has no clue what class he's in. Could you help?"

"Of course I can, sweetheart. What's your last name?" the office lady shot at Hope, who quickly walked over to the window.

"Um, Estheim, miss," Hope replied.

"Ok, let's see. Estheim, Estheim. How do you spell it?"

Hope spelt his name clearly, while the office lady typed his name into the database and printed his timetable. "Ok. Your class is 9GQ, and here's your timetable. Do you need help finding your classes?" she asked kindly. Hope shook his head.

"My friends said they would lead the way, but thank you," Hope replied politely. The office lady chuckled.

"Ok, then, have a nice day."

Hope looked over his timetable. It looked a little confusing at first. Different classes on different days. On the top left was his name, and underneath it, the name of his class. Underneath that, was 'Monday A'. What did that mean?

"Um, what does Monday A mean?" Hope asked Serah on the way back to the group.

"The letters A and B indicate what week we're in. Today is Monday A," Serah replied.

Monday A's schedule was as follows:

History

Food Tec

Agriculture

Geography

Science

"How long do the lessons go for?" Hope asked.

"It depends on what period it is. See the times next to the Monday A column? It shows how long the lessons go for." Snow pointed at the box labelled 'Period 1'. "For example, Period 1 goes until 8:19 – 9:20am."

"Between Periods 2 and 3 is recess, and between Periods 4 and 5 is lunch. Recess goes for 40 minutes, and lunch goes for 20 minutes," Serah added, leaning over Hope's shoulder so she could read. "Awesome, you're in my classes!"

"At least I'll know someone there," Hope mused.

At that moment the bell rang. Serah smiled and chirped, "Roll call! Hope, you're coming with me!" She then began to drag Hope by the arm over to her line on the quadrangle, where other students were in their respective year groups, chatting with friends. Hope looked back at Snow, who gave him an apologetic look and mouthed, _She's had coffee_. Hope nodded and let himself be dragged away to roll call.

Roll call mainly consisted of the principal (Mrs Rowley) lecturing the school about orchestrating fights, and the teachers announcing different things like Writing clubs, Soccer club meetings, etc. Eventually Hope tuned everything out and looked at the ground as if it might hold all the answers to his questions. Serah nudged him and said, "Time to go, Hope."

Hope looked around him. Everyone was standing up, chatting to their friends, and, in the case of the group of girls nearby, nudging each other and pointing openly at Hope, whispering. Hope turned toward Serah before grimacing.

"Something wrong?" Serah, picking up on Hope's apparent discomfort, looked over at the group of girls, now whispering in each other's ears. "Oh. Just ignore them; they'll get tired of that soon enough."

Hope followed Serah to their first class, feeling the girls' stares burning a hole in his back.

"Are they in our class?" Hope asked.

Serah looked back, and grimaced. The girls were now on their way, every so often laughing and giggling. Their laughs were so high pitched it grated on Hope's nerves. How could they laugh like that?

"Unfortunately, yes. If you're wondering how, my guess is that they bribed the head teacher or the Principal or something along those lines," Serah replied, rolling her eyes. Hope laughed.

"You really don't like them, do you?"

"How would you like it if they sat down next to you and asked you stupid questions, like, 'Can I copy off of you?' or, 'Come to my party?' Or, better yet," Serah laughed sarcastically, "laughing that ridiculously high-pitched laugh in your ear?"

"I'm guessing that's a no."

"And you'd be right." Serah sighed. "Come on, or we'll be late."

* * *

><p>"So, you met my little sister's newest friend?" Lightning asked Ari in English. Everyone around them was chatting or listening to music from their iPods or school laptops. Fang was one of those people lost in her music, so that left Ari to talk to.<p>

"Depends who his mom is. What's his name?"

"Hope Estheim."

"I've met his mom, not him, but I've seen him from afar. From what I can tell, and from his mom's and my conversation, he seems pretty cool. Why'd you ask? You like him already?" Ari cocked her eyebrow, letting Lightning know exactly what she meant. During the time she'd known her, Ari had become an expert at getting under Lightning's skin. It was entertaining to her, and since Lightning knew it was just for fun, Ari kept going with it.

Lightning's face grew red, from anger or blush, Ari couldn't tell. Just because Lightning knew it was a joke, didn't mean that she had to like it. Ari smirked inwardly. She didn't know why, she just loved annoying the pink-haired – and now pink-faced – woman, and now it was a habit.

"Of course not! What the hell gave you that idea?" Lightning spluttered. She felt a little nervous, and she didn't know why. _I don't have a crush on Hope! I don't even know him that well! _But she still felt that overwhelming desire to protect the 15-year-old boy from last Saturday, and that didn't mean she had a crush on him. _It was something to do with that dream, I know it. _Lightning decided to shove it into the back of her mind and lock the door on it, leaving it to think about later.

Ari cocked her eyebrow higher, getting lost in her fringe, which was now brown. She had dyed it the night before because it would cause her less attention. She hated to wash the blue out of her hair, but she had to, to do her job. It was much more important than the colour of her hair, even if it was her favourite hair colour. _The more unique, the more different, the better_, she thought. She loved weirding people out, whether it was with her dress sense or with her hair. She was currently wearing a deep blue long-sleeved turtleneck to hide her tattoo, jeans, and black boots. Nondescript, maybe boring, but she didn't want people staring at her today. Her brown hair was swept up in a bun, leaving a few strands to frame her heart-shaped face. Some of the boys in her class were giving her 'the eye', but she ignored them, rolling her eyes. Teenage boys were _so _not worth her time, _especially _those boys in particular. During the last 2 weeks she'd been at Bodhum High, she had noticed that those boys had acted _exactly _like inappropriate, inconsiderate jocks, putting non-popular students down and putting themselves up on pedestals for it. _Jerks, _Ari thought bitterly. Wrapped up in her thoughts as she was, she didn't even notice one of those jerks get up and walk confidently up to her desk, smirking back at his friends, who gave him the thumbs-up. Fang looked up and nudged Ari, who also looked up to meet the unusual golden eyes of the 17-year-old boy in front of her. Ari rolled her eyes and greeted him with, "What the heck do you want?"

Either the guy was dumb, or he simply ignored the distaste and malice dripping from Ari's question. He was still smiling, confident. Ari itched to wipe that stupid smile off his face, but kept her emotions in check. She didn't want a reputation at this school just for hitting every guy who pissed her off, though the idea was very tempting. The guy leaned partly over the desk separating them, getting up in her personal space. This close up, Ari saw that his fair hair shone just as golden as his eyes, which unnerved her for some reason.

"Hi to you too. You're the new girl, right?" Ari rolled her eyes at him.

"Who wants to know?" _Duh._

His smile grew. "Jonathan, but by all means, call me Jace," he replied smoothly, winking. He seemed way too confident for his own good. He wouldn't be so confident if he knew who or what she really was. Actually, he'd be scared out of his wits and running in the opposite direction. She fought the urge to smirk right back at him and instead crossed her arms in a defensive gesture, one she'd used many times in the past, and quipped, "Let me guess: a bet? Or are you just showing off because you have nothing better to do?"

He managed to look sincere as he said, "Would you believe me if I said I've been enchanted by you since I first laid eyes on you?" His eyes seemed to sparkle with mischief, something Ari loved in _human _boys, but not in a jerk like this one.

"Ah, a poet. Listen here, Shakespeare," Ari said, leaning forward so that their foreheads nearly touched. "You want me? Go back and think of a better excuse before you embarrass yourself." With that, she leaned back enough to flick his forehead, hard. "Now shoo," she smirked, waving him off. The boy – Jace – seemed to get the message, backing off and going back to sit with his friends. Every now and then, though, Ari would catch him staring longingly at her when he wasn't joking or laughing loudly with his friends out of the corner of her eye. Of course, the teacher would be conveniently occupied out-of-class with a fellow colleague, so they were never caught not doing work. When the bell went, Ari was out of her seat and through the door before anyone else was finished packing up. She desperately hoped that Jace wasn't in her biology class; if he was, there was something seriously wrong with the world she was living in.

She felt a strong hand grasp her shoulder and spin her around, and readied herself to hurt whoever had dared to grab her, if it was a guy, but before she could, she was staring into the shockingly golden eyes of Jace, his hands pinning her arms at her sides, utterly frozen as he kissed her, but it wasn't rough. Instead, it was gentle, his lips soft against hers. It completely opened her up to him. One of her biggest weaknesses was when a guy kissed her gently, instead of shoving their tongues down her throat. Without thinking about her actions, or about what other people would think, she kissed him back, softening him up, whilst silently thinking, _When he lets my hand go, he's in for a rude shock. _But for now, she was in complete bliss. Etro, was he a good kisser. When he released her right arm, it was to put his hand in her hair, wrapping a curl around his finger. Ari waited until he was completely distracted, then punched him with her now free hand, sending him staggering backwards.

That wasn't the first time she had been kissed by a guy she didn't know. It wasn't even the first time she had punched a guy while he was kissing her. It was, however, the first time she had to punch a guy when she had actually _wanted_ to keep kissing him. How could this boy have such an effect on her?

_You need to focus on your assignment, not how good a kisser Jace is, _her mind insisted. She didn't even know what his last name was! She didn't know him _at all. _She needed to get her head on straight. She shook her head, her body shaking along with it due to adrenaline. She glared at Jace, pleased that a red mark was coming up over his right eye. He'd have a shiner tomorrow. She then turned and continued walking to biology, praying he wasn't in any more of her classes.

While she was not happy that the same jerks from English were in her class, and that Jace seemed to be in her class according to the roll, she was pleased that Jace had ended up at Sick Bay because of her fist; she'd heard his friends discuss it.

Something told her she won't like recess very much today.

* * *

><p>The bell went, signalling the end of Food Tec for Hope. So far, Food Tec was the only class that was even slightly interesting to him. What didn't appeal to him was the giggling girls at the back of the class; the very same girls, in fact, who were checking him out on the quad that morning. He had a feeling about who they were giggling about, and grimaced. He hurried out of the classroom as fast as he could and made his way down and through L block.<p>

Bodhum High's grounds weren't as complex as he thought when he first came here. Most of his classes were situated in D block, which was shaped around the library. Next to the bottom entrance to D block was the pathway to J block, and next to that path was L block, which has two stories. To the right of L block was a path down to the oval and next to that path was G block, otherwise known as the canteen, and next to that was the toilets and bubblers, in a kind of open hallway made of copper tin for the roof, and the hall was right next to that. It was quite easy to remember once you knew how.

"Hope!" He turned to the sound of his name, and was almost tackled by Vanille. It was easy to see that she was hyped up on coffee already. Just behind her were Rainah and another boy. He had darkish brown hair similar to Hope's in the way it was messed up, and blue eyes.

"Uh, hey, you must be the new kid, right? I'm Noel, Noel Kreiss," he introduced himself, holding his hand out for Hope to shake. He had a firm grip. Hope smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm the new kid. It's nice to meet you, Noel."

Noel laughed and ran his hands through his already mussed hair. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Hey guys!" Serah chimed in, with Snow just behind her. "What are we all doing here? Let's go to our tree."

"Right behind you!" Vanille chirped, skipping behind Snow and Serah. Rainah shrugged and ran after them. Noel and Hope looked at each other.

"Is Vanille always like that when hyped up on coffee?" Hope asked.

Noel laughed again. "She's always like that. Coffee just helps it along a bit." Hope choked back a laugh and followed the others.

* * *

><p>Ari was <em>not <em>having a good day.

She was leaning against a tree on a platform of sorts, thinking about what had happened before biology, when Jace had kissed her. If he knew why she was here, and what she'd done in the past, he wouldn't have. She was sure of it. _He probably did it because he was dared to. _Yes, that was it.

Ari stifled a groan. The object of her discomfort was out of Sick Bay and was coming towards her, with a smile on his face. Didn't boys ever learn, especially after being punched? She thought she'd made herself quite clear.

"Hey there, beautiful," Jace said, still grinning. Ari rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Ari replied scathingly.

Jace sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I kissed you like that. It was wrong, and I should've asked first. Forgive me?"

Ari raised an eyebrow. "The poet finally learns some manners. I almost believed you for a second."

Jace ran a hand through his already tousled blond hair. "I mean it! I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry, ok?"

Ari sighed. He probably wouldn't go away if she didn't accept his apology, fake or not. Her mind made up, she looked up into those unusual golden eyes of his and said, "Fine, I forgive you."

"Thank you." Jace smiled, but not in a cocky or arrogant way. It was genuine. That shocked her. She didn't know jocks could be anything other than arrogant jerks. "Next time, I'll ask first."

"What do you mean, 'next time'? There's _never_ going to be a next time," Ari snapped.

"If you say so." Jace smirked. He seemed to be _enjoying _her discomfort.

"Don't hold your breath."

Silence followed her statement. Jace sighed and sat down beside her, being careful not to touch her, lest she get mad enough to punch him again. He didn't need another black eye.

"So, are we friends?" Ari was startled out of her thoughts by this question, and it got her wondering. _Were _they friends?

"You don't even know my name," Ari replied, stalling.

"Ok, what's your name?" Jace wasn't going to give up. Not when he'd just earned her forgiveness.

Ari sighed and shook her head. "It's Ari."

"That short for something?"

"Like Jace is short for Jonathan?"

Jace shrugged. "At least I gave you my full name. So what's yours?" He was so stubborn. Ari sighed, but stood her ground.

"Not telling. You can go ahead and figure it out on your own." Ari laughed as Jace pouted. He did it pretty well, actually. _Probably because he has enough experience, _she thought, trying to stifle her laughter. Jace looked at her.

"What's so funny?" Jace asked seriously. Ari resisted the urge to smile. "It's just – your face looks pretty funny when you pout. Like a 5-year-old kid who doesn't get what he wants."

"Hey! Not funny!"

"Uh, very funny," Ari countered, smirking. "Especially since you're laughing now."

"Hey Ari. Who's your friend?" Lightning asked, sitting down next to Ari.

"I wouldn't necessarily call him a friend _just_ yet," Ari corrected. Jace raised an eyebrow at her and introduced himself.

"I'm Jonathan, but I prefer Jace," he said.

"Lightning," she said, and raised a hand for him to shake. He was surprised to note that she had a rather firm grip for a girl.

"So," Ari began, turning to Lightning, "how was the interview?"

"With the Guardian Corps? Not bad. They said they'd call me when they've decided if I'm suitable for it," Lightning replied.

"Oh yeah, I was gonna ask about that," Fang said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere with three coffees in hand. She tossed one to Lightning and one to Ari. Ari peeked at the label, which said 'Dare Cappuccino'.

"Awesome, thanks Fang," she said, leaning back with coffee in hand. She opened it up and took a sip, sighing in content. Jace was feeling a little nervous. He had no-one he actually knew with him, except Ari.

"Ok, Ari, what's he doing here? Thought you didn't like him," Fang said, just then noticing Jace.

"Leave him alone, he's called truce," Ari answered, deciding to leave out the fact that he'd kissed her after English and she'd given him a black eye for it. They'd notice soon enough, anyway.

"Uh, what happened to his face? The right side is all red," Fang noticed, leaning over to examine him. Jace feeling very, _very _uncomfortable now, with a girl who was capable of more than a black eye in his face examining said eye, leaned back.

"Ha! Who socked ya?" Fang asked, turning to her friends, noticing Ari in particular looking the slightest bit uncomfortable. Usually she hid her emotions well, but only Fang could see through her façade.

"Ha! It was you," Fang crowed, pointing at Ari, who leaned forward, grinning.

"Yeah, so?"

"_So,_" said Fang, "You punched the guy. Why'd you do it, anyway?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Ari gritted her teeth and looked Fang in the eye. Ari could be very scary at times, Fang noticed, but never as scary as Travis.

As if thinking about him had summoned him, Travis arrived at the tree platform, sitting down at the table next to it, facing his friends. "Hey, guys," he said easily, leaning back against the table.

Ari smiled. "Hey Trav."

Ari had known him since he was little, and he had first become involved in all this. She still remembered after she'd talked with the Boss.

_Travis was right outside the door when she walked out of the room. She was upset, to say the least, but she had to take this assignment. When she put her mind to it, she was stubborn as a mule. It was her way._

"_You heard?" she asked, irritated._

"_How could I not? You were yelling pretty loud." Travis leaned back against the wall and smirked. He was always laid-back and casual, Ari noticed, taking in her 'little brother'. She will always think of him that way. _

"_So you know?" Ari suspected that he knew more than he was letting on. "About this 'assignment'? About everything? Let me guess: you're part of this in some way?"_

_Travis nodded. "Yep. I'm your partner, apparently. Found out about this before you did."_

_Ari sighed in relief. If he was her partner, then all this would be much easier. "Thank Etro."_

_Travis stepped closer to her, a smile lifting the corner of his mouth. "I know. That was my reaction when I found out."_

"_Wait. The Boss told you outright?"_

_Travis nodded. "Didn't he tell you?"_

_Ari sighed. "Guess not. Either that, or I missed that part."_

_Travis's smile became bigger. "I'm guessing you missed it. Easy to."_

"_Of course."_

_It wasn't hard to see that he liked her. She was more to him than just his big sister, and she could sense it. She always could._

Jace watched Ari's eyes become unfocused and her whole body relax, as if she were remembering something. He waved a hand in front of Ari's face, trying to get her attention. When her eyes remained unfocused, he thought of other ways of getting her attention. He could kiss her again, but he'd probably end up being kicked somewhere he'd rather not be kicked. He looked at Fang, who was grinning. He did not like that grin. He had no reason other than his gut feeling, and he always followed his gut feeling.

But his gut feeling was also screaming at him to kiss Ari again.

He wasn't lying to her in English when he'd said he was enchanted by her. Ever since she'd arrived at this school, he'd watched her every move, simply fascinated by her. He fought the urge to grab her and start kissing her again. He'd get in trouble with her again, and he'd only just managed to earn her forgiveness after the last time. He did, however, touch her, on the wrist, and instantly, his mind was filled with images of Ari.

_Ari was holding a folder with a boy's picture on it, a boy Jace didn't recognise, and screaming at a man hidden by shadows._

_She was talking to the boy who had walked over to their group. _"Travis," _the name whispered through his mind. _

_Several more images rushed through his mind, and all of them depicted a younger-looking Ari._

_Ari was sixteen, and she was in a huge storage shed, with men dressed in black circling her. She herself was twirling a katana. Jace watched as they sparred. _

_She was ten, and she was sitting in a sterile room, biting her lip as a design was etched into the nape of her neck. It had black arrows pointing every which-way, twining together, with a red dot at the design's centre, almost like a pupil. _

_Ari was five, and looking down at two adults on the floor, obviously her parents. Their individual pools of blood were starting to mix together, and their fingers were linked. They were face-up, and looked peaceful. Her tears streamed down her face as she cried._

Ari felt nervous. She had never done that before, save once. She had avoided contact after that, fearing when it would happen again. Now it had, and with Jace no less!

She felt warm breath near her ear, and Jace was whispering to her.

"Did you see what I just saw?"

Ari barely bobbed her head, enough that no-one could see it but Jace. She then stood up, said she had to go to the bathroom, and walked in that general direction, bag slung over her shoulder. When she was out of reach and they couldn't see her, she ran for the bottom of the oval. When she got to her favourite thinking spot, she stopped, dropped her back and sat down with it, looking to see if anyone had followed her. She saw a figure in black heading towards her. She sighed.

When he reached her, she said, "Only you, Trav."

Travis plopped down beside her and replied, "I saw you heading off to the bathrooms, but I knew something was up, so I followed you, and sure enough, you were heading here."

"You shouldn't be worrying about me! You should be worrying about our little target."

"So should you," Travis countered. He looked around to make sure no-one was listening in, then leaned in and continued, "You know we can't talk about that in public."

"_You _know you should be watching the kid!" Ari couldn't take it anymore. It took all of her dwindling self-control not to scream at him. "You know there are probably spies here, looking out for him!" She sighed and fought not to run her hand through her now-loose hair in frustration. "We also shouldn't be arguing about this."

"Tell me what happened back there. I saw your body relax and your eyes cloud over."

"You should know, since the first time it happened, it happened to _you_."

Travis's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "You mean-"

"I don't want to talk about this right now. You know what happened and I know I shouldn't have walked off without at least giving you warning first so you can watch the kid in my absence, discussion over." Ari paused, took a breath, and the bell rang. She pointed back the way they'd just come. "After you."

Travis shook his head, but walked back up, Ari trailing behind him. "This is not over," he shot over his shoulder. Ari grimaced.

"I didn't expect any less."

* * *

><p><strong>REVIEW! it shall help my barely-there sanity, and encourage me to write more.<strong>

**next chappie is in the works, so it shouldn't take me as long to post it this time...but after that will be half-yearly EXAM and NAPLAN time, so i might not update for a week or so. think you can survive until then? i sure hope so.**

**now click that lovely button down below, and REVIEW, dammit!**

**BTW: Ari doesn't swear. she has never sworn, which is why she said 'heck' instead of 'hell'. isn't she fun though?**


	6. Surprises

_**A/N: ( 3,822 words!) Hi guys! It's me again, but unfortunately I'm sick…damn it!**_

_**Guess what? We're getting a second story on our garage! \o/**_

_**Am very disappointed in the reviews, but the hits (especially for my first story) are MASSIVE! God love you guys! Now if only you'd review…**_

_**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Final Fantasy…soon, Square, soon…**_

* * *

><p>Hope grimaced as he heard the bell ring, signalling class time. He hoped fervently that those girls weren't in his next class. As he reached lab 5 for agriculture, he breathed a sigh of relief. No giggling girls in this class, but the few people that had arrived early stared at him. Hope pretended not to notice until the teacher showed up, opened the door, and let them through.<p>

Hope took a seat at the back of the class, hoping people would have a harder time staring at him, but somehow, they managed. Very few students, though, took little notice of the new kid sitting at the back of the class, three of which were Rainah, who happened to take an interest in agriculture, Vanille, who loved to learn about wildlife, and Serah, who was in all of his classes anyway. The other students, though, kept craning their necks trying to get a good look at him. Hope felt very uncomfortable, and he wished he hadn't eaten at recess. Rainah noticed, and commented on it.

"Quite frankly, you look like shit, Hope. Is everything all right?" she asked. Hope looked like he was going to puke, and his face was white – well, whiter than usual, that is.

Hope was startled out of his brief reverie. He nodded, "Yes, I'm fine."

Rainah looked him up and down. "You don't look it. Are you sure?"

Hope smiled half-heartedly. "Trust me, Rainah. I'm fine."

Rainah rolled her eyes. "Your stomach."

"Good morning, class!" the teacher called from the front of the class. A couple of smartasses called back, "Good morning, Mr Bryant!"

While the teacher – Mr Bryant – marked the roll, Vanille took his momentary distraction to question Hope.

"You sure you're okay, Hope? You look kinda green," she remarked with a grim expression.

Hope frowned. "Why will no-one believe me? I'm _fine! _Completely and totally. Okay?"

"Okay, okay! Calm down, I was just asking."

"Isn't it okay to ask my friend what the hell's wrong? You should see yourself," Rainah said, arranging her index fingers and thumbs into a rectangle and looking through it. Hope rolled his eyes.

"Vanille Dia!" Mr Bryant called.

"Here!" Vanille chirped.

"Serah Farron!"

"Uh, here," Serah called, then, thinking it through, shouted, "Sir!"

"Yes, Miss Farron?"

Serah gestured to Hope. "My friend's new here, and you didn't call out his name."

Mr Bryant looked at her over his glasses. "Really? Name?"

Hope took the chance to speak up. "Hope Estheim, sir."

"Alright then, Hope, is it? You're on the roll now. While we're on the subject, is there anyone else that is new to this class?"

Serah turned to Hope. "How're you feeling now?"

Hope smiled. "I feel fine." It was true. The sick feeling had passed as quickly as it had come, and he felt good as new.

Rainah looked him over. "Well, at least you don't look like you're gonna puke anymore."

"Shut up, Rainah," called one of the boys on the other side of the room. The boys laughed while Rainah scowled at them.

"Least I'm not a pretty boy, like you, Karl. I saw the pics you posted on Facebook of your so-called 'muscles'," Rainah called back, followed by the collective 'ooh' of the students who heard the verbal spar.

"She has you there, dude," another boy said to the boy named Karl, who winked back.

"You were the one looking."

"Had no choice, it was on my wall. Don't know if I'll ever get the picture out of my head. Now I think _I'm _gonna puke." Rainah grimaced.

The students laughed.

"Rainah Tsarro!"

"Here, sir." That pretty much ended the verbal sparring between Rainah and Karl. The students that were enjoying the show then turned back around in their seats to 'listen' to Mr Bryant, who simply said, "Copy these notes down please."

A few students groaned, and opened their books.

…

The bell rang, signalling the end of History for Ari. She was packed up and out of the classroom before anyone else, and headed straight for Maths, feeling jumpy. It was clear, from the way she frequently looked behind her, that she didn't want Jace sneaking up behind her again. How she wished she had her katana with her at that moment. _Why _this school even had metal detectors was beyond her.

_Focus, Ari, _she scolded herself. She eventually made it to Maths without getting jumped by anyone and the teacher let her in. She took a seat at the back of the classroom, near the windows. She leaned back and watched as the rest of her classmates filed in and sat down. Travis, of course, sat next to her, and Jace, surprisingly, abandoned his idiot friends and sat down on the other side of her. Travis looked at him suspiciously, but allowed it. Ari felt very uncomfortable, but hid it well.

As the teacher droned on about trigonometry and the like, Travis took the opportunity to slide a piece of paper over to her.

_Got a look at the kid while on my way back from recess, _the note said.

Ari immediately picked up her pen and hastily scrawled a reply: _was he alright?_

_He looked pretty sick to me._

_Hang on a sec, I want to try something._

Ari then touched Travis's wrist and concentrated on what she wanted to show him. It was just a simple memory, one of her and her friends at the tree at recess.

Travis's eyes widened, but didn't move his wrist away. '_Ari!'_

This voice was inside her head. Ari smiled, and thought back, '_Cool, huh? No need to pass notes anymore, ok? We can communicate this way.'_

Travis took one look at her, and nodded slowly, seemingly deep in thought. He pulled his wrist away so he could think in peace.

_Wonder what powers I have, _he thought. He knew his powers would start to surface soon, but that they would take time. The Boss even said so, in one of their 'heart to heart' chats. For some reason, that seeress always was there, watching him. It was creepy, to say the least, but she was cool.

Ari brushed his arm then, and immediately got a sense of what he was thinking. He was worried about his powers; they hadn't surfaced yet, but he was thinking about something else, too: something shoved deep in the back of his mind, but she couldn't reach it. Not yet, anyway.

'_You alright, Trav? Anything you wanna talk about?' _She asked. She really was worried about what he was hiding, but he didn't seem to be too worried about it.

'_Nah, it's cool.'_

'_Ok, but when you wanna talk, I'm here.'_

…

Period 4 passed quickly for Hope. Geography was pretty cool, and the teacher was even more so. Her name was Mrs Campbell. Before she called out the roll, Hope made sure to go up to her and tell her he was new. She treated him fairly, and didn't make him introduce himself, which made him sigh with relief. When the bell rang he quickly packed up and waited for Rainah and Serah; Vanille wasn't in this class. Then they made their way over to their tree to wait for the others. Hope noticed at recess that Lightning's group was at a tree not too far from where they hung out. He was watching when she arrived, and when the brown-haired girl ran off to the oval. Why couldn't he stop thinking about Lightning?

His left wrist burned dully, but he ignored it, losing himself in memories and thoughts of her while his feet carried him to the tree where he now hung out. He sat himself down, lost in a daze. He stayed that way until Rainah clapped loudly in his ear, startling him. Rainah laughed.

"Lost in the clouds?" she asked him. Hope chuckled slightly before sighing.

"I guess I am," he replied. Meanwhile his wrist continued to burn dully, distracting him from his thoughts and making him look down. A small angry red mark rested there, minute in size, but still visible. He raised an eyebrow, and then proceeded to cover it with a yellow kerchief from his bag, tying it around his wrist.

"Hey, Hope, I'm gonna go grab some coffee, you want one?" Serah's voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up, and realised that everyone was up, and ready to go.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure." Hope hastily stood up, instinctively clutching his left wrist where the mark rested. He then proceeded to follow Serah down to the canteen, passing Lightning's group, where the rest of the group stayed, mingling with the seniors. He spied the brown-haired girl from recess staring at him curiously as he walked past, looking down at his wrist. She then smiled, and continued chatting with the boy sitting next to her. Serah waved at Lightning, whose lips curved up slightly in a slight smile, and raised her hand in greeting as they walked past. Hope couldn't help but stare at her beauty.

_Is this normal? _He asked himself. He shoved it into the back of his mind to think about later.

…

Ari smiled when she saw that Hope's left wrist now had a yellow kerchief tied around it. That must be where the mark had started to form. She was envious; hers had to be done manually. She grimaced as she remembered the pain of having it all done at once, and scratched at the back of her neck. At least his was appearing in stages. He would only feel a slight burn as each stage was formed, the bastard.

She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts, and touched Travis's wrist.

'_You saw what I saw, right?'_

'_Huh?' _It seems his head wasn't in the game. He seemed to be staring absent-mindedly at Fang. Ari rolled her eyes and pinched his wrist, hard. He jumped.

'_Ow! What was that for?' _He complained, clutching his wrist. Ari touched his hand and replied, '_What do you think, you douche? The kid just walked by with a new accessory on his wrist!'_

'_Oh, the kerchief? I was wondering about that.'_

Ari was starting to lose her patience. '_The kid's mark is appearing, you dumbass! Get your head in the game! Remember, we're not the only ones after this kid, alright?'_

'_Oh, right. Sorry.'_

It was clear his thoughts were focused entirely on Fang, who seemed oblivious. Ari couldn't help it. She let go of his hand and started laughing, hard. Not only Travis, but everyone else looked at her curiously. She took no notice of this as her giggles turned into full-on guffaws. Travis started laughing with her, and soon everyone was laughing, save Lightning, who only smiled and shook her head.

_Wonder what the joke is, _she thought. Though she was long used to Ari and Travis, sometimes she wondered what exactly was going through their minds. As she listened to her friends' laughter and her sister's friends socialising, her own thoughts wandered to a certain platinum-haired boy. She didn't even bother questioning it now, instead letting it happen, and as she did, she felt a stinging, almost burning pain in her chest, mostly in the middle, but slightly to her right. She looked under her shirt, and what she saw surprised her. A small red mark, the size of a small coin, now rested there. Lightning briefly wondered if it was a mosquito bite, but quickly dismissed it. It wasn't the right season and it burned too much to be a mosquito bite. So what was it?

Ari saw Lightning look down beneath her shirt, and, out of the corner of her eye, saw Travis's eyes widen, and he touched her wrist.

'_Uh, Ari? Big problem.'_

'_Problem? In what way?'_

Travis didn't have to gesture at Lightning. He showed Ari Lightning through his eyes, and Ari's eyes, too, widened. She now knew what Travis's power was, and at last, it'd surfaced. He could see natural power. She briefly noted that he could also see auras, and that Lightning's glowed brighter than the sun, and it was as pink as her hair, maybe darker. It was almost blinding. Ari almost flinched, but her wrist did twitch away from Travis's hand. She immediately replaced it long enough to reply, '_You know what we have to do, right?'_

'_Right. We've gotta tell her.' _Travis paused, thinking, then continued, '_You do the talking.'_

'_Chicken. We can't do it now, though. Too early. She'll freak out, and she won't believe a word we say. We need proof.' _Ari's eyes widened. She knew who she needed to talk to.

'_Now who's the chicken?'_

'_Smartass.'_

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and it was enough to distract her. She took her hand away from Travis's and took her phone out.

"Hello?"

"It has happened. I have seen it. Hope will not be the only one to get his mark. Others will too, and in the next twenty-four hours. All of them." And with that, the line disconnected.

Ari looked at all the people she'd come to know in the two weeks she'd been here, Fang and Vanille, Lightning and Serah, Snow, Noel, and Jace. Would Jace be involved in this too? She severely hoped not. She didn't like it, but he'd grown on her, in all the two-and-a-half hours she'd known him. At least some of them will wake up tomorrow and have weird marks somewhere on their bodies. This was too crazy, even for her. Why did this have to happen to her? To everyone she knew here? Why now?

Travis flipped his phone shut; a message similar to the one Ari had just gotten whirring around in his brain. Why did others have to get dragged into this? It was stupid and unnecessary, to him at least. He wished he was alone right now; exercise seemed to do good for stressed-out people, but not him. For Ari, nothing calmed her down like the reassuring weight of her katana in hand; for him, it was a good shooting range. He wasn't one for hand-to-hand, though he was trained for it. He had to be, though he preferred to stay on the sidelines, with the reassuring weight of a good gun in his hand.

…

Hope's wrist still burnt dully, but he managed to ignore it as Serah stood in line for the coffee. He looked back up at their groups. They were smiling, happy, laughing, except Lightning. She seemed to be looking down her shirt, her expression one of slight pain and curiosity. He decided he would ask about it when they got back.

"Hey, got the coffee," Serah said. "Could you hold these?" she held out two of the coffees for Hope to carry. He reached out his left hand, and his wrist burned horribly, causing him to drop the coffees and double over, clutching his wrist and almost screaming profanities. Serah knelt down beside him, muttering, "It's ok, it's ok," all the while wondering what 'it' was. She hefted him up, with his help, and managed to get him back to the group while carrying the coffees she bought. She was nothing if not a multitasker. Ari met her halfway, seemingly knowing what was happening to him, and took him off of Serah, who breathed her thanks, secured her coffees and trailed after them. Travis and Lightning both ran toward them, Travis's eyes widening. Hope's aura was blindingly bright, in shades of light green mixed in with yellow. The seeress wasn't joking when she said it would happen within the next twenty-four hours, though she rarely joked. Did she even have a sense of humour? He didn't even think he'd ever seen her smile once. He'd think about that later.

Hope was in the worst pain imaginable. He was cursing in a way that'd make any sailor blush, and he was close to passing out from the pain. He dimly felt someone yank off the kerchief tied around his wrist, and he felt pressure around where the dot appeared, poking and prodding around. His eyes opened, he didn't remember when he'd closed them, and he saw Lightning doubled over, pain evident on her face, but she was trying her hardest to hide it. His heart went out to her, as did his hand, mark now clearly visible. His eyes widened at the sight of it. Arrows were painting themselves over his skin where the wrist was, with the red dot glowing, and burning like an inferno. It certainly felt that way. Hope's hand continued to reach out to Lightning, and it made contact with her shoulder. He gripped it, hard enough that her head snapped up, and her cerulean orbs met his emerald ones. She nodded, just once, and smiled through the pain. That smile sent shivers through him, and calmed the burn. She seemed to recover too, and knelt beside him. That beautiful face was the last thing he saw before blacking out.

…

"Travis, did you see that Mark? It isn't supposed to happen that way," Ari said during class.

Hope was sent to Sick Bay, after his kerchief was tied back onto his wrist, effectively covering his Mark. They were all worried about him, and Lightning, who was sent with him, even after adamantly repeating that she was fine. And technically, she was. She just had the beginnings of a Mark that could potentially kill her if she made the wrong move with it. Yeah, sure. She was _just _fine. But she didn't know that, did she? No-one did until one of the agents before her died while being administered with it. It was too big a shock for them, and they passed out, with no pulse. Hopefully, these guys would be stronger.

"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do about it? No-one else was supposed to be involved in this! Why kids?"

"Don't ask me when I have no idea!"

At that moment, Ari's phone rang. Travis and Ari exchanged looks. This could _not _be good.

"Hello?" Ari asked almost hesitantly.

"We need to talk. Bring the new recruits. Meet us at," pause, "69 Wickham Avenue next week, in the northern part of Bodhum. We will talk then."

The line disconnected.

"That does it. I need to call her."

"Who are you gonna call about this, huh? No-one else knows about this," Travis replied almost sarcastically.

"Who do you think? My sister knows about this, so I'm gonna call her. We need back-up on this one." Ari looked at Travis. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Fine," Travis replied. "Just freakin' dandy."

* * *

><p><em>Later<em>

Rainah was bored. She was glad to be home, but she was bored out of her mind. She flicked through the music on her iPhone, and settled on 'Fantastic Baby' by BigBang.

Just then, her phone rang, startling her and momentarily pausing her favourite song. This had better be good.

"Yeah?"

"It's me."

After the call had ended, Rainah definitely wasn't disappointed.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: ha! Done. Yippee! *does a little dance*. **_

_**Don't mind my crazy behaviour, I'm sick :(**_

_**Funny coincidence, but I was listening to 'Fantastic Baby' while writing this. Sometimes I think my computer loves me. Don't get me wrong, I love it back, but the school plans on stealing it because they need to check all of year 9's laptops for problems. They're bastards, the lot of them, but for the most part, they mean well…just wish they didn't have to steal our laptops :(**_

_**Also: the animosity between Rainah and Karl, in case you're wondering, is actually based off the relationship between me and a boy at school whose name is – drum roll, please – Karl Conwell. Ha! And the Facebook thing, about the pictures of **__**his muscles? Also true, every word of it :P**_

_**And another thing: I highly recommend Undisneying Kingdom Hearts, by seeker of the skies, one because it's actually a good story, and two, because I'm beta-ing it ;)**_

_**Aaaaaanyway, that's it for me tonight. Until next time! *poof***_

_***poofs back* one last thing: REVIEW! Go on; click that nice little blue button, and help my sanity reach its full potential ;)**_

_***poof***_


	7. Reunited

_**A/N: (Wohoo! 5,953 words!) hello again, people of Fan Fiction! **_

_**OMG! 6 more reviews! That jackpots the total up to 20! I love you guys :P**_

_**Sorry about the last chapter, I know it was small, but it is highly necessary! But don't worry, I will always make the chapters as long as I can without it being boring. For the most part in this chappie, we will be learning about Ari and some of her little secrets ;)**_

_**Special shoutout to all who reviewed, including Envious sky, Haikairi, seeker of the skies, Frost Metal 0-1, thewhitespirit and That One Reviewee, one of which was anonymous (you know who you are!) ;)**_

_**And to all the silent readers – can you at least PM me so I know you're reading? That would help ease my fear of not being loved.**_

_**This is a long author's note, isn't it?**_

_**Disclaimer: if I owned FF, I would be Fang (or Vanille, it depends if I've had coffee – coffee, drink of the Gods! Or Goddess, whatever fits) ;)**_

_**On with the story:**_

* * *

><p>Ari lay on her bed in her makeshift home above Lebreau's, exhausted. She'd forgotten just how tiring school could be. When she was younger, she'd had to go to plenty of schools, but not for the classes. Usually it was to watch out for people who were 'of interest' to her Boss.<p>

_Some things never change it seems,_ she thought as she played through the conversation she'd had with her sister on Monday for the sixty-seventh time – not that she was counting, of course.

…

_Ari tapped her foot to the rhythm of her stress and anxiety as she dialled the number she wanted, stumbling over the individual digits. _Come on, come on, pick up_, she thought as she finally punched in the correct number and listened impatiently to the brief dial tone. _

"_Hello?" _

"_It's me," Ari stated grimly._

"_Ooh, good, I was looking for something to take my mind off of the shit that's been going on recently. Where are you, where do you wanna meet and who am I stalking now?" Ari rolled her eyes; this is exactly the response she'd expected._

"_Yeah, it's nothing like that this time. Travis and I, we've got our hands full with an assignment, and I'm afraid to say we need backup."_

"_Finally! Ok, give me all the details, and don't spare a single one, you hear me?"_

"_Sure, sure," Ari replied, and then proceeded to give her sister the rundown of recent events. When she finally finished, her little sis was silent as all hell, which was rare. Usually, she was bombarded with question after question from her. Ari voiced this concern after about five minutes of uncharacteristic silence._

"_You ok? You seem pretty damn silent; would've thought you'd have been bombarding me with questions by now."_

"_You don't really know what I look like now, do you?" The question was both completely random and confusing for Ari, who simply stated, "No, why ask?"_

"_Don't ask any questions; just meet me at the park across the street from yours Friday, at around 4:00? I'll explain then." Click._

_Ari laid her back against the wall, feeling much older than she actually was._

…

Ari smiled. That was her little sis, confusing and random at best. If it wasn't for her, she'd have gone completely insane when she lost her family. She was the one she kept fighting for, and it helped to take her mind off of the grief as the years went by. Then, when she was ten, and her sis was only five, they were taken in by the Boss and that freaky little seeress of his. No offense to her, but she was creepy as, when they first met.

…

_Ari clutched her little sister close to her as they followed the buff soldier to…somewhere. Where were they? Where were they going?_

"_I'm scared," the petite little girl next to her mumbled almost silently, so only Ari could hear. She leaned down to kiss the top of her head, and mumbled soothing words to her in Japanese, which always calmed them both down._

"_Wait here," the soldier ordered the two girls, "you'll be called in shortly."_

_As he disappeared through the nearby door the two girls looked at each other, panic written over both of their faces now. Called in? By who? For what?_

"_I don't like this," Ari stated, trying to stay calm. "I don't like this at all…"_

"_It's ok," the little girl next to her said positively, and just like that, the roles of both girls were reversed. Now Ari was the one in need of comfort, and the little girl was there to give it to her._

"_Thanks, Lenah," Ari responded, both to her sister's attempt at comfort and the words themselves. _

"_Anytime," Lenah said, grabbing her big sister close in a hug. _

"_Ok girlies, time to go," another soldier ordered, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, then turned on his heel and walked through the door, clearly expecting them to follow. He was right in thinking that, because, really, where else could they go? The two girls looked at each other, nodded, and followed, strong in their resolve. They had to be._

_The soldier took them through several doors before finally coming to a halt in front of a huge steel door. The soldier showed his ID to a hidden camera, and the door slowly rolled upward, proof that it was automated. They walked through into a dark, sterile room, bare of anything except two human-sized shadows in front of them. One of them stepped forward, a man in purple armour and lavender-coloured hair with black and purple beads and a purple feather. He also had a huge black and deep-purple sword on his back. His appearance alone made it clear he wasn't one to be messed with. His eyes were dark, so dark – you could get lost in those eyes. Ari looked into those eyes, challenging him, keeping Lenah tucked into her side, shielding her. He smiled at Lenah, and beckoned to her. Ari glared._

"_No," she almost shouted. "You want her; you have to go through me!"_

_The man chuckled. "Silly girl. I would not hurt her or you, for that matter. Why would I? You are children, and it is a terrible crime to hurt a child."_

_His voice was persuasive, almost hypnotic. He certainly had Lenah under his spell. He beckoned to her again and this time she came, stepping out of her sister's reach and forward, until she was right in front of him. He brought his hand to her cheek, and one finger found its way to her chin, tilting her face up so he could examine her. He nodded to himself and let her go, and she backed up until she was beside Ari again._

"_Yeul, come forward." He waved his hand forward, and a girl stepped beside him. That was the other shadow Ari had noticed before. This girl was – there was no other word for it – enchanting. She wore a white dress, mixed with deep orange and red. She had multi-coloured beads around her neck and a gold and silver headdress adorning her deep blue hair. It was the colour that, in the right light, would become deep silver. She had intense emerald-green eyes, eyes that could look right through you. She touched her headdress, and the headdress turned into a sort of headband, putting her hair up and lowering a silver see-through veil around her face._

"_What do you sense of them?" the man asked of her._

_Yeul looked them up and down, and then stepped forward until she was in front of Ari. She touched her hair, examined her eyes, touched the back of her neck, and then moved on to Lenah. Then she started touching _her _hair, examining _her _eyes, then leaned down and touched the back of her calf. She stepped back so she was beside the man._

"_They are of natural power, but I sense something holding it back. That one," she pointed to Ari, who flinched involuntarily, "her name is Arianna, and her mark would appear on the back of her neck. The other one," she pointed to Lenah, "her name is Lenah, and her mark would appear on the back of her calf." Her voice was calm, almost monotone. "They could be of use to you, Caius."_

_Caius chucked. "Very well, then. I trust they have no family, otherwise they would not be here."_

"_Their parents died when Arianna was seven, and Lenah was two," Yeul replied. "Assassination."_

"_What? How could you know that? You know nothing about my family!" Ari yelled at the top of her lungs._

"_Be calm, child. Yeul is a seeress; as such she knows everything about you. But this gift comes with a price. Each vision she has about the future kills a part of her. Eventually she will die, and then be reborn into this world. I have never left her side since she was first bestowed with such a gift, as I am the guardian of her soul. I have known thousands of Yeuls, and loved each and every one of them like a sister."_

"_You expect me to believe that you are immortal?" Ari questioned, sceptical._

"_The heart of Etro beats in my chest. Kill me, and the Goddess dies with me. As such, I am quite difficult to kill." He smiled. "Try to hit me."_

_Ari ran forward to where he was and took a swipe at him. He burst into mist, and when she turned around, he was right next to her sister. She did not like the way Lenah was looking at Caius. She wasn't scared of him, she was looking up at him with wonder and awe upon her face. This only served to fuel her fury: fury over the way she looked at him, grief over the shock of her parents' death, sadness that she would never see her mother or father again, and anger over the fact that her little sister will never remember them. She whirled around and charged again, but it was futile as he turned into mist once again. He was playing with her now. He reappeared behind her, trapping her hands in his, and spun her around to face him. His eyes burned into her._

"_I like you. You will train under me," he stated calmly, as if they were talking about taking a walk or about the weather. He looked over to Lenah. "You both will train under me."_

_He turned back to Ari. "What weapon would you like to wield?"_

_Ari's eyes widened. He couldn't be serious. He couldn't possibly be serious, but his eyes said differently. Oh, no. He was _dead _serious. Just like that, all her anger evaporated, leaving her feeling weakened._

"_K-katana," she managed to say._

"_Excellent! And how about your sister? What weapon will she wield?"_

"_My name's Lenah and I would like a bow and arrow," Lenah stated coolly. _

"_Lovely! You will both stay here with us and train under me, since you have nowhere else to go. Right?" He finally let go of Ari's hands and stepped back into the shadows. "Your guards will show you to your room."_

_It didn't go unnoticed by Ari how Lenah was staring in his direction before 'their' guards came to take them._

…

Even now, Ari could still see the look of adoration in Lenah's face, not just when they first met the man and his seeress, but on their scheduled trainings. She sighed, letting yet another memory flood her.

…

_Ari stood in the middle of the huge field Caius had picked out for them to train in. There were targets everywhere, and she gripped her new katana tightly._

_In the past few weeks she'd learned to trust Caius to a point – she'd stopped checking their food for poison, at least – but she was still suspicious of him and her little sister. Lenah seemed to be a little too fond of him. Ari shook her head. She was here to practise with her sister, not stand around – she'd be an easy target._

_Lenah had learned how to use the bow and arrow quite well since they'd started training under Caius, and sometimes even the seeress would come to watch them practise. Likewise Ari had learned a lot about her new friend currently gripped in her slightly sweaty hand. Caius had taught them to feel the vibrations of an attack under their feet, to feel the wind shift as an attacker came too close, to let their ears pick up the tiniest of sounds that could suggest a pre-emptive strike, and to train their eyes to the tiniest movements that could suggest an impending ambush. These tips were quite effective to Ari – especially as she heard the slight whistling of an arrow cutting through the wind in her direction. She rolled to the side just in time, and she felt the arrow brush just past her head and heard it sink into the ground. She smiled – Lenah's aim had certainly improved._

_Lenah quickly nocked another arrow from her perch in a particularly tall tree at the edge of the clearing, and let it fly with the usual twang. It flew fast; Ari would not be able to dodge this time. At the last minute, the arrow changed direction and sank into the ground along with the first. Lenah smiled. Caius had come to join them._

_She nimbly jumped down from branch to branch, finally landing softly as a cat at the tree's base. She looked up from her crouch to find Caius crouching in front of her. She smiled softly, and he smiled back._

"_You are learning quickly," he breathed, and his smile grew bigger. Her smile widened in response, and she could feel her face heat up. She dropped her gaze as Ari walked over to them, eyes narrowed in slight suspicion. She had always been suspicious of Caius – first dinner he gave them, she'd checked it over for any trace of poison. Though she'd stopped now, she was still wary of him – and of his motives. She knew that Lenah was currently nursing a crush for him, and he seemed _especially _fond of her in turn._

"_You are both learning quickly," Caius said, a little louder than before, as Ari arrived and stood closely beside her younger sister. "I think it is time for Arianna to test her skills – in the real world."_

"_A real assignment?" Ari exclaimed in delight – the first sign of happiness Lenah had seen from her sister in a long time. Since before she could remember, Ari had been cold, distant – except when she made her laugh, and then she would smile but it would never reach her eyes. But now, Lenah could see a fanatic, almost crazy gleam in her eyes, and it made her worry a bit. She pushed that thought aside. She did not want to ruin the moment._

_Meanwhile, Ari was ecstatic. A real mission! In the back of her mind, she was going through certain scenarios – what if she didn't make it home? – But she pushed the thought out of her mind. For now, she wouldn't worry. She had other things on her mind…more pressing things, to her. Like what Caius's motives were, cozing up to her sister. Despite everything he had done for her – given her food, water, shelter, saving her from Lenah's arrow – she still didn't fully trust him, and she didn't know if she ever will…especially with her sister._

…

Ari smiled to herself. She was very overprotective of her sister back then, far more than she needed to be. She knew Caius better now, she knew he would never take advantage of her sister – it wasn't in his nature to do so. She never had to worry too much about her sister, though she did anyway.

She looked at her bedside clock. The little red digital numbers read 3:30. She could go at 3:50; she was right there anyway. She looked through the curtains at her window, and saw Rainah sitting on the now-vacant swings, looking up at Lebreau's, seemingly waiting for someone.

_What is she doing there? Is she waiting for Serah and Vanille? _Then a realisation hit her.

_Is she waiting for me?_

* * *

><p>Rainah sat on one of the vacant swings in the park across form Lebreau's, just staring. She could see a girl staring down at the park from above Lebreau's, and their eyes met. Rainah could see her sister in that stare. Was it her?<p>

Just like that, she disappeared. One second she was there, and the next she wasn't. Rainah was puzzled, but she didn't move. She didn't know how much time had passed, so she checked her phone. The time read 3:45. She'd be here soon, she was sure of it.

Rainah was bored, so she started swinging. The wind, first on her face, then on her back, helped soothe her, but she still wanted her sister here. She wanted to hear her voice, whispering soothing things to her in Japanese. At heart, she was still seven years old and needing comfort from her One-Chan*.

She checked the time again. The phone read 3:50pm, and from her position, she could see someone coming out of Lebreau's.

Someone with seafoam-coloured hair.

Rainah's eyes lit up. It was her One-Chan! She immediately jumped off the swing and ran towards Ari. She stopped just in front of her, uncertain. Does she know it was her? Or was she still clueless? One way to find out.

"Onee-Chan?" she managed to stutter out, brown eyes widening.

"Is that you, Lenah?" Ari asked, confused. Rainah – or Lenah – nodded in response.

"Yeah. Sorry about not telling you about this," she gestured to herself, "but I was sent to look for the kids that were gonna get their Marks, and to look after you."

Ari smiled. Yup, this was definitely her sister. She opened her arms, and Lenah jumped into them, beaming.

"There's no need to look after me," Ari whispered in her ear. "You know perfectly well I can look after myself. If anything, _I _should be the one looking after _you._"

"Not a chance." Lenah crossed her arms, looking all-too-serious now.

"Split it?" Ari proposed. Lenah's smile came back, and she nodded. "Deal."

As Lenah leaned away, Ari noticed something off about her sister's appearance. "What's with the eyes? They're hazel."

Her younger sister giggled. "Contacts. If you look real close, they're brown, but hints of my green eyes show."

Ari rolled her eyes. It was smart, but she wasn't going to let her sister know that. "Where are you staying?"

"Got my own place in a street not far from here," Lenah said, enlightening her.

For some reason, Ari felt a little awkward saying, "I've got room…do you want to…I don't know…stay with me from time to time?"

Sensing her sister's discomfort, Lenah fought the urge to laugh. "Sure, I'd like that. Can I have my own drawer?"

"Sure."

"Can I see where you live?"

Ari fake-grimaced, biting her lip as she fought not to laugh. "That sounded really weird the way you said that, but yeah, sure."

Lenah smirked. "You're not the only one who's insane."

Ari rolled her eyes. "I'd noticed."

* * *

><p>It wasn't too long a walk to Lenah's, but they did stop at the new ice-cream store next to it, even though it wasn't that warm. They just wanted to catch up; it had been a while since they'd seen each other, let alone spent time together for leisure. They made small talk – Ari asked Lenah how she'd been going with her target practice, and Lenah in turn asked her how she'd been going with her katana, making sure no-one was around before she did so. Although the quality of what was sold here was excellent, and everyone knew each other, most people seemed to go somewhere else for their groceries, food, etcetera, so it was easier to talk about stuff you'd rather no-one else heard. For the people who worked at the shops it was hell, but for Lenah and Ari it was both easy to take advantage of and convenient for their situation. One downside was that the park seemed to be quite popular for the kids, as was the ice cream store they were currently sitting outside of.<p>

Once they had finished their respective bowls of ice cream, they made their way over to Lenah's place to pack some clothes to fill up her drawer at her sister's place. Of course, they had to be mobile so they always packed light – they never knew when or where their next assignment would take them – they kept the majority of their clothes at the only permanent home they had: with Caius and Yeul.

As they were about to leave, Lenah said, "Stay here, I need to do something," and ran to her room, leaving Ari a little confused. Her room was dark blue in colour and pretty bare, consisting of only a bed, chest of drawers and bathroom, and was cleaner than it should be. Once she'd shut the door, Lenah immediately began to rummage through her chest of drawers. "Aha!" she breathed to herself once she'd found what she wanted – a small white box, which she opened to reveal coloured contacts. There were the usual colours – blue, hazel, brown, grey and although green wasn't needed, she had it anyway – but there were all sorts of other colours as well, like red, gold, black, etcetera, and there were different shades of each colour. They were even sorted by colour, and by shade of colour, which made it easier for her to take out her brown contacts and replace them with blue, and mixed with her natural eye colour, gave her a seafoam-green colour. She pocketed the box, grabbed her bag of hair-dye and made her way back through the house to her sister, who gave her a look.

"Hey, gotta be prepared, right?" Ari smiled at the phrase. It had always been used between them, and it had stuck. "Don't tell me you don't have contacts, extensions and dyes?"

_So that had been what she was getting, _Ari thought. "So what if I do? But I don't have that many-"

"Yet," Lenah interrupted as a smile appeared upon her face.

Ari decided to give up. It wasn't wise to argue the point with her sister. She was too much like her father, hard-headed and stubborn. She may as well have been born in the year of the bull, but she hadn't. She was born in the year of the snake! Completely different years, though she was slippery like a snake. She smiled at the thought, and followed Lenah out the door into the crisp afternoon air, shutting the door behind her.

"You gonna lock the door?" she asked. Lenah shrugged.

"Automatically locks itself. I installed it myself."

"You got the keys then?"

"I'm not silly; of course I have the keys!" Lenah replied indignantly.

"Then show me the keys." Lenah sighed, then grabbed the keys from her pocket and showed them to Ari.

"There are the keys. Happy now?"

"Supremely." Lenah rolled her eyes and started walking. Smirking, Ari fell into step beside her. She loved annoying her sister in relaxed situations. And the best part was that she bit again and again. She got that from her father. He used to love annoying the both of them, Ari the most. As a result, she loved annoying other people in turn, just to see their reaction. By far the most entertaining reaction she got daily was from her classmate, Courtney Gordon. She squealed when she was tickled or when she got mud on her, or when she was pushed. She was also scared of the animals on the school's Agriculture farm. _Why _she took Agriculture as an elective was beyond her, and her answer to that question didn't help in the slightest. When she asked, Courtney simply said, "The animals are cute." _Cute. _She will never understand girly-girls.

An annoyance to her was one of the girls in her International Studies class. She didn't know her name, but she was really dumb as far as she was concerned. Example, on Wednesday, there was ten minutes of the class left, and the teacher asks them to participate in a little game, which was to name six people they would like to go to dinner with. They could be from any time period. As an example, the teacher, Mr Manning, says Leonardo Davinci. The girl puts up her hand and says, "It's not Leonardo Davinci, its Leonardo Dicaprio," in a really superior voice, like she knew she was right and the teacher was just dumb. Everyone turned around to stare at the girl, then burst out laughing. As a result, Mr Manning set them homework, which was to write an essay on the differences between an artist and an actor. Ari was surprised how dumb some people could be.

She was roused from her thoughts by Lenah's elbow, signalling they were at Lebreau's already. Time passes fast around here. This time Ari took the lead, walking through the front door then heading up the stairs that were to the right of the bar. Her room was the last one on the left. Opening the door, she headed straight over to the bed and pretty much fell onto it, only then realising how exhausted she was. She opened one eye to look at the clock, which read 5:00. _Already? _her bleary mind asked numbly.

"Where am I sleeping?" Lenah asked.

"Wherever the heck you want," Ari replied, already half-asleep. Today really took it out of her. Her back ached horribly every time she tried to relax it from the books she'd had to carry in her bag all week and to top it off, her head was throbbing painfully. She felt the side of her bed drop down slightly under her sister's weight as she snuggled up against her Onee-Chan's warmth. Ari smiled slightly before sweet, dreamless darkness took her into its warm embrace, dragging her downwards.

* * *

><p>When Lenah woke up, it was still dark and her stomach was rumbling. She checked the bedside clock, which read 4:50. Only five in the morning! Usually she was asleep at this time! She shook her head, and her stomach rumbled again. She stretched, replaced her brown contacts and walked out the door into the hallway. She stopped, trying to picture which way the stairs were. Spotting some dim light to her right, she started walking towards it, almost tripping down the stairs. Once she managed to get down the stairs without tripping, she was surprised to find that the woman who owned the bar and restaurant, Lebreau, was already up and preparing for opening at six.<p>

"Hey there," Lebreau smiled. "You must be Arianna's sister, huh? She works here, you know." After hearing Lenah's stomach rumble yet again, she laughed. "You hungry?"

"God yes," Lenah replied.

"Good. Just sit down wherever, and I'll get you some pancakes. On the house," Lebreau offered, winking before going back to polishing her glass behind the bar. Once she was done, she walked round the back where the kitchens were, and whipped up some batter to put in one of the frying pans on the bench near her. When the pan was hot enough she poured the batter into two individual puddles in the pan. When enough time had passed she flipped them, leaving the browned side up to face the ceiling. When the pancakes were cooked she flipped them onto a white plate, drizzled maple syrup over them, grabbed a knife and fork and brought them out to Lenah, who was sitting on one of the stools at the bar. She set the plate in front of her, and Lenah's eyes lit up at the beautiful sight in front of her. Two pancakes, topped with maple syrup, sat in front of her, begging to be eaten. She immediately dug in like she hadn't been fed in weeks.

"So what's your name, anyway?" Lebreau asked her as she continued wolfing down her rapidly disappearing pancakes.

"L-er, Rainah," Lenah replied, almost slipping and saying her real name.

"Loraine?" Lebreau questioned, confused. "Is that what you said?"

"N-no, my name is Rainah," Lenah stuttered, nervous.

"Rainah," Lebreau repeated, the name rolling foreignly on her tongue. "Nice name."

"Thanks," Lenah replied, calmer now that the name conversation was over. Feeling a little better, she went back to her pancakes. As she was polishing them off, Ari came down the stairs, bleary eyes scanning the scene before her: Lenah sitting at the bar, wolfing down food, with Lebreau watching over, ready to take the plate.

"Morning," Ari mumbled, still half-asleep. She felt like she'd left her brain back in her warm comfy bed.

"Morning," Lebreau and Lenah said together. "Are you hungry?" Lebreau asked Ari as she came over to sit down by Lenah.

"Yeah. What's on the menu this morning?"

"Let's see; omelette, toast, cereal or pancakes," Lebreau rounded off, taking Lenah's clean plate and turning to take it to the kitchens.

"Just toast, thanks," Ari yelled after her. She turned to Lenah and asked, "How'd you sleep?"

"Good, actually," Lenah replied, "better than I expected, to be honest."

Ari smiled at her little sister's response. "Good. I'm gonna go see what Lebreau wants me to do." She then walked back behind the bar where the door to the kitchens was located. She pushed through to find Lebreau, who was leaning against one of the benches.

"Anything you want me to do?" Ari asked. Lebreau smiled.

"Yeah, there is. Put on your uniform before we open, you do work here. Oh, and Rosalie should be here soon. You two will be sharing shifts today." Lebreau announced, still smiling.

Ari nodded. "Will do. What can L-Rainah do while she's here?" She hoped to God that Lebreau didn't notice the near stuff-up.

"I think we need more volunteers. Is she willing to work?" She either didn't notice the stutter, or she was ignoring it.

"I think so," Ari replied, somewhat relieved.

"Good, she can do some volunteer waitressing for me."

"I'll go get her," Ari said, backing out of the kitchens. Once out, she turned to Lenah, who was now playing with a straw.

"L-Rainah, you wanna work as a waitress today?" Ari said, just in case Lebreau was in hearing range. Sometimes, she had the ears of an elephant.

Lenah smirked, quickly catching on. "Sure thing. Where's my uniform?"

Ari pointed over to the kitchen door. "Lebreau's sure to have some spares, why don't you ask her?"

"Will do," Lenah replied, getting up and walking straight through the door to the kitchens, where Lebreau was busy cleaning for when the crew got there.

"Hey Lebreau, where can-"

"I heard you. There are some spares in the linen cupboard upstairs, first door on the left."

Lenah nodded and backed out of the room to get her uniform. She had waitressed before, back when she was fifteen, which wasn't too long ago. She had to get a job and pay the rent somehow, and she had no job. But her friend worked for a bar down the road from hers and managed to get her one. She had a feeling she still owed that girl for that, but what can you do when your real line of work had you moving everywhere with pretty much no warning?

Lenah let her thoughts circle as she walked up the stairs and to the first door she saw on the left. She opened it and saw a linen cupboard that looked smaller than it was, with a whole rack devoted to waitress uniforms. Ari for sure would have known about this. She didn't even know which one was her size, and several of them seemed to have what looked like vomit stains. There was another one that seemed to have another, totally different type of stain on it, so she avoided that one altogether. She finally found one right at the back that looked like it was clean and would fit her rather petite form. She retreated into Ari's room to change into the pale blue uniform, and found it looked rather good on her.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day after all.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Thank you all for reading my delightful little story!**_

_**As usual, I am asking you to review or PM me. But as I'm sure neither is gonna happen anytime soon, I will settle for the hit count. Thanks again for reading!**_

_**BTW, Onee-Chan is Japanese for older sister.**_


	8. A Soul Long Since Lost

_**A/N: So sorry for the wait; my computer needs a new battery so I'm using my school laptop (on which Fanfiction is banned) and a USB to transfer my documents to Dad's laptop, which I have been hijacking for precisely this purpose. So until further notice, most of my stories, including Twisted, ST and most of the stories I have been planning**_ _**are on HIATUS, and my BETA documents are unavailable. Sorry for any inconveniences, but I have tried and failed to recover my documents. Rest assured that I will keep trying until the battery is replaced.**_

_**Disclaimer: I wish I could say I did, but unfortunately I don't own FF…yet.**_

* * *

><p>Lenah descended the small wooden staircase leading down to the room below to find Lebreau doing last-minute wipe-downs of the bar and tables before opening. She smiled when she saw Lenah.<p>

"Oh good, you found a uniform. What I need you to do is go round the back and I'll call you when the customers start rolling in. Rosalie and Arianna are starting shifts soon as well, so you won't be alone for too long," Lebreau explained as Lenah leaned against the stairs' rail. She nodded solemnly. She'd done this before.

"Ok, you know what to do," Lebreau said, smiling, "so do it, because we're opening in a few minutes."

Lenah nodded again and walked calmly through the bar and around into the kitchen, where Ari was sitting on top of a counter.

_This is probably against policy, _Lenah thought with a grin, but joined her sister anyway. At that moment, the door to the kitchen was opened again, and a pink-haired woman walked in and looked around. She smiled when she saw Ari.

"Hi, Ari." She spotted Lenah leaning against her, and a small frown crossed her beautiful features. "Who is this? I've never seen her before."

"This is Rainah," Ari replied, grinning. She'd finally gotten the name right! "She's our newest volunteer, and might just be able to work here part-time."

"Well, that's fantastic!" the pinkette exclaimed, and then reached out a hand. "My name's Rosalie but you can call me Rose."

Lenah nodded, a small smile gracing her features, and shook Rosalie's hand. "Lovely to meet you," she murmured politely.

"So, how do you two know each other? Are you friends at school?" Rosalie asked, leaning against the nearby counter. Lenah and Ari looked over at each other. Ari smiled, all the while communicating with her eyes, _she doesn't need to know!_

Lenah looked at Rosalie, and said clearly and smoothly, "We've known each other for a while."

Rosalie blinked. "Oh."

Lenah smiled winningly at her, making Rosalie all the more enthralled.

"Hey guys!" Lebreau poked her head into the kitchen at just the right time. "Show-time!"

Lenah broke the eye contact between herself and Rosalie, and Rosalie shook her head, normal.

"Ok, better get out there. It was nice to meet you." She smiled, and then walked out.

Ari looked over at Lenah. "What the heck was that? You do realise you didn't have to do that, and we could get in trouble off Caius? You're not the only one who can read people."

Lenah raised an eyebrow. "Hey, I didn't tell her anything. I just made her forget she'd ever wanted to ask that question. I got a good look at her thoughts too, you know."

Ari's curiosity peaked, winning out over her annoyance. "Yeah?"

Lenah smiled, knowing she'd won. "Oh yeah. But I'll tell you later, on break. Ok?" And with that, she followed Rosalie out into the bar area.

Ari shook her head ruefully and followed her sister out into the rapidly-filling café, smiling all the while.

* * *

><p>The sunlight streaming through the window woke Lightning that morning. She rolled over groggily, burrowing under the comforter in the hopes of getting back to sleep. It didn't work; it only succeeded in making her feel smothered and way too warm to be comfortable. She poked her head out only to be greeted with a face-full of sun again. Why didn't she shut that blind last night? She groaned, even louder when her alarm sounded, signalling that it was 10:30 in the morning. She glared at the little clock before taking it into her hand, ripping its cord out of the power socket, and throwing it against the wall, where it shattered into pieces.<p>

_Twenty-one, _Lightning thought wryly as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

_Why the hell did I set that alarm?_

_You're starting your new job today._

Goddess, she'd forgotten. They'd dilly-dallied around with her since the interview, making at least a dozen potential first days with her, then cancelling. She was tempted to skip because of this, but if she wanted that job, she was going to have to stick her neck out.

She figured the cancelling had something to do with their higher-ups, PSICOM. The Sanctum was the whole group together, along with their Primarch, Galenth Dysley. Dysley was the one running the whole show, along with Eden, his wife. They frequently made TV appearances around Cocoon, smiling as if poverty and famine didn't exist. In their world, at least, it didn't. But the world below, Gran Pulse, was a different story. Kind of like the fabled story of a different world, which the then humanity had many different countries, and presidents, premiers, mayors and prime-ministers ran the show. Gran Pulse reminded her of 'Africa', the country facing starvation in the story. She'd forgotten the name of it…

She silently rifled through her wardrobe, looking for something suitable to wear. She settled on something she could easily move around in: loose black pants and a green T-shirt.

As she was dressing in the bathroom, she saw the mark on her chest that had been there since last Monday. She traced the marking, took it all in: black arrows, the top ones heading up her chest, the bottom ones down, and the side arrows everywhere else; surrounding the red dot which, upon further inspection, had an extremely thin black line circling it from the inside and a bright cream dot in the centre. She had never seen anything like it, or read about it in any book. Then an idea hit her.

Once she was dressed, she headed quietly down the stairs and headed to the right, where an ornate painting of a little blond girl in a white dress was. She dimly remembered when she was ten, and her father showed her down the staircase and past the picture to his 'special place'. It had been shortly before he died…

_Lightning was on her bed reading when her daddy knocked on her door. She carefully placed a bookmark in and closed the book, and walked over to open the door, and he hugged her._

"_Honey, I want to show you something," he whispered into her ear, his Australian accent thicker than usual, "but you're not to tell your mummy or your sister, ok?" He knelt in front of her and brushed her cherry strands behind her ear. She nodded solemnly. She could sense there was something wrong with him. He was pale, he was hardly eating at dinner anymore and his wedding ring was riding loose on his now-skinny finger. His blue eyes spoke legions. Normally they had a bright spark; a flame Lightning thought would never be put out. They were always so energetic, as was his personality, something her mother fell in love with and that his children never got tired of. Now they only showed worry, pain, and suffering. The bright spark was forever gone from his eyes. He was distant. Lightning grabbed his hand._

"_What do you want to show me, dad?" Lightning was a very mature girl for her age. "You've been acting so strangely…"_

"_Yes. Follow me, honey." And with that, he pulled her down the stairs to the picture. She always thought it was an ordinary picture, until her daddy poked the amber oval in the middle-bottom of the frame. The wall the painting was on pulled back and to the side, revealing a stone staircase spiralling downwards. Lightning's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. She'd never seen _this _part of the house before._

"_Don't be afraid, honey. I'm right here," her father soothed. He then flicked the third switch at the wall. The first was for the staircase to the second storey; the second for the area near the painting and the study opposite. For years she and her sister would play with the third switch, watching to see where it would generate. Guess she knew what that switch was for now. Did Serah know about this? Guessing from the way he was acting now, his blue eyes darting from the staircase to the backyard, to the front door and back, she didn't. Lightning was starting to feel a little uncomfortable._

"_Dad, are we doing something wrong?" she inquired to him. "Why are you so jumpy?"_

"_We're not doing anything wrong, honey. This is where I go when I want to be alone." With that sentence, he lightly descended the staircase. Lightning followed. If this was where her dad went, then it must be safe._

_Lightning was just starting to get dizzy when they finally reached the bottom of the staircase to face darkness so complete, with only the lights from the staircase for their eyes to take in light. Her father felt on the wall for a switch and he flicked it, revealing a sight so perfect, so beautiful, that Lightning sighed in delight._

"_Daddy, this is awesome! When was this built?" she asked, immediately running to one of the shelves which was filled to the brim with – you guessed it – books. Her father had led her to his private library. _

_As she looked around, she realised that the whole room was lined with shelves; there was a cosy nook in the corner with a squishy-looking armchair and a little table beside it, both coloured chocolate brown to match the library. The shelves were the same colour, the walls were a darker brown and the rugs covering the stone flooring were maroon, blood red, dark crimson and black woven in a beautiful pattern. She looked up and found a second staircase directly opposite them, made from wrought iron and painted black, leading to a second floor; which made her wonder just how deep underground they were. She must have said it aloud, because her father replied, "We're deep underground; about 2 kilometres, from memory."_

_Lightning couldn't quite remember what a kilometre compared to a mile was, but she knew that 2 kilometres was deep._

"_This is where I come to be alone, to think, and to relax. You could call it my secret place." He ran a hand through his very-tousled blonde hair and chuckled. His face hit the lights full-on as he laughed, and Lightning could see the dark bruise-like shadows under his eyes. Had he been losing sleep, too, as well as appetite? "You're the only person I've told about this place."_

"_Not even Mom knows?" Lightning asked._

"_Not even your Mum knows. This place is very important to me, so I want you to keep this between you and me, ok?" His blue orbs bored into hers, and suddenly she felt little tingles shoot from her spine to her toes. She couldn't stop looking into those eyes. She frowned and shook her head, and the feeling passed as quickly as it had come._

"_Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore. But this place is beautiful, and if you want me to keep a secret, of course I will."_

_He smiled. "That's my girl." He leaned in and kissed her on the tip of her nose. He'd always done that before he'd begun to lose weight, ever since she was a very little girl._

"_Will I be able to come down here anytime I want, Dad?" she asked excitedly. He smiled at her enthusiasm._

"_Of course. Just don't let anyone see you do it."_

Lightning could almost feel her father's lips on the tip of her nose again. She closed her eyes for a moment, then, opening them again, she pressed her finger against the oval made of crystallised amber, which had an outline of emerald. She watched as the wall pushed itself back and to the side with an ominous creak, taking the painting of the little girl with the white dress with it. Her lips curved into a slight smile as she took in the stone staircase that hadn't changed a bit since she and her father travelled down eight years before, save for dust build-up. She silently thanked the Goddess; the dust would make her footsteps harder to hear. She flicked on the lights and snuck down the steps. She hadn't forgotten her father's warning: no-one was to know of this place, not even her other family members. As she stepped inside, the doorway closed again, leaving her alone with the stairs. She shivered, not because of the cold, but something else. She felt something akin to nausea build in her stomach. She could deal with it, but it wasn't a welcome feeling.

As she reached the bottom of the staircase she flicked on the lights before her eyes could get used to the blackness – and almost fainted.

For there, slightly transparent, and in the clothes he was buried in, was her father.

* * *

><p>The same sunlight that had awoken Lightning had succeeded in waking Hope, who was a couple of streets away, in his warm and comfortable bed. He blinked blearily, still half-asleep. He might've had a bush in front of his window, but it didn't do much to block out the sun. He stretched, yawning before he flipped the covers off and stood. He yawned again before opening his door and walking out to find his mother in the kitchen, and from the smell of things, she was cooking pancakes.<p>

"Hey there, sleepy-head," Nora joked. "Nice to see you're still alive."

"What time is it?" Hope asked, then fixating on the pancakes, added, "And can I have some?"

"When they're ready, and it's 11 in the morning."

Hope's eyes bulged. "Holy crap, I'm supposed to meet Vanille and Serah at the park in half an hour!"

"Tsk, tsk. You should've asked first if you could go out today, Hope," Nora chided.

"Can I go? After breakfast, I mean?"

Nora sighed in mock defeat. "If you must, but _be home at five_."

Hope nodded. "Got it."

He ran back into his room and changed into a clean pair of jeans and black T-shirt, then walked back out into the dining room and sat down at the table, where a plate of pancakes sat waiting to be eaten, doused in maple syrup. He grinned. "Thanks, Mom."

Nora laughed. "Not a problem."

After Hope had eaten, he put his phone in his pocket and tugged on a pair of sneakers before heading out the door, accompanied by his mother's reminder to be home at five. He set off for the park, and within ten minutes he was there and seeing a redhead and a pinkette waving to him from a green picnic table, already nibbling on a box of hot chips and drinking iced-coffee.

"Hope! So glad you could join us!" Vanille giggled.

"Yeah, we thought you were dead," Serah added before the two girls laughed together. Hope smiled good-naturedly.

"I was only late five minutes," he reminded them, taking a seat next to Serah and helping himself to a hot chip. He was a boy after all, and teenage boys' appetites never wavered. They were either hungry or not, never anything in between. Serah took another sip of her iced-coffee. Where she got all the money for her coffee, Hope would never know.

"Hey Vanille, wanna go on the swings?" Serah asked as they polished off the chips with Hope's help. Despite his age, Hope grinned and said, "Wanna race? First two there get the swings; the loser has to watch."

Vanille grinned. "You're so on." She took her place beside Hope, who was already standing, and asked, "Ready?"

"Set."

"Go!" The last word was shouted by both of them as they ran for their favourite swings. Hope won by a centimetre and immediately jumped on. The other was occupied by Serah. Vanille's mouth fell open.

"How'd you do that?" she whined. Serah just grinned and kept swinging.

"I took my opportunity while you two were occupied by getting up and taking your positions." She giggled, and gestured to the iced-coffee bottle in her hand. "This helped too."

Vanille sighed. "Damnit. I hate being slow."

* * *

><p>Lightning couldn't believe her eyes. Her father, who had been dead for eight years now, stood in front of her, in the black suit he'd been buried in. If she squinted, she was able to see through him, the shelf he was in front of slightly visible.<p>

"D…Dad? Is that…you…?" She could barely get that sentence out. Her throat had a very large lump in it, and her heart felt like it was going to drill out of her ribcage, it was beating so fast.

"_It's me, Éclair," _her father replied, smiling. He held out his arms, and Lightning ran into them, slightly surprised he stayed solid._ "I was wondering how long it would take you to realise that I was never truly gone. I guess becoming a l'Cie helped the process a bit."_

"Wait…what?" L'Cie? What the hell was a l'Cie?

His smile faded somewhat. _"Did you never read through any of these books while I was gone?"_

Shocked into silence, Lightning shook her head. He let her go, but not before leaning down and kissing the tip of her nose, like he had the first time he'd showed her the library. _"Follow me, Éclair; I want to show you something important."_

He then floated – no joke – up through the second floor of the library. Lightning ran up the wrought-iron staircase, taking them two, even three at a time before she spotted him in the middle of the floor, waiting for her. He then gestured to the railing. _"Look down at the floor. Tell me what you see."_

Lightning obeyed, looking over the railing, and almost fainted again. The rug she remembered admiring when she was ten was below her – and the colours made up the mark she had on her chest. She was at a loss for words. She turned to face her father. "What is this place, really? No lies."

"_I wasn't planning on lying to you," _he answered calmly. _"This place is a safe-house for l'Cie, built under the ground years ago. When I was branded eight-and-a-half years ago, this place became known to me."_

"How?"

He smiled grimly. _"I could sense it. Just like I can sense that your sister, Fang, Vanille, Lenah, Noel, Hope and Snow had recently been branded with the mark of l'Cie."_

Lightning's eyes hardened. "Elaborate."

He complied. _"I was watching the blue-haired woman you seem to be friends with, the Ari girl. She and her male companion were manually branded when she was ten, and you were just seven. Lenah is her sister, and is currently under the alias 'Rainah Tsarro'."_

"Meaning Ari has been lying to all of us," she translated. "Ok. So what happens now?"

"_You must seek out the seeress, Yeul. Ari will help you do this. Once you find her, you will find Caius, and he will fill in the gaps of my limited information." _He grimaced then, and his form started to fade. _"I cannot keep up my corporeal form much longer."_

"So you're really dead?" Lightning couldn't help but ask.

"_Unfortunately, yes. Éclair, there is a vault behind me. Go to it, and dial in this combination: 1, 7, 23, 15 and 40. There is a very valuable book inside, which you must never leave the safe-house with. One step past the threshold of the painting of the little girl in the white dress will cause the safe-house to fall apart should the book's holder will it. I sincerely hope you do not forget this, because there are some good books in here. I would hate to see them wasted." _His slowly-fading form winked. Lightning smiled, despite herself.

"I'm going to miss you, old man," she joked, trying to hide the tears waiting to fall. He stepped forward, smiling gently.

"_No need to cry, Éclair. I will always be with you. And physically I'm still 34, though technically I'm 42 now. Take good care of your sister and your Mum. Oh, one more thing. In the vault, I left you a hand-written note and a present. Take good care of it, and your friends."_ With those last words, he faded out completely.

Lightning felt like she'd just lost her father all over again. _Pull yourself together, Farron. _She strode over to the vault and dialled in the combination. When she heard the click of the vault door unlocking itself, she opened it wide. Inside was a couple thousand gil in cash, a battered leather-bound book, an envelope with her name on, and –

"Sweet," she breathed, taking the Blazefire Sabre out from its holster, testing its weight in her hands. A laminated card fell out of the holster, and she bent to pick it up. It was a gunblade licence, with her name and age on it.

_You thought of everything, didn't you, Dad?_

She cracked open the envelope, which, as promised, had a hand-written note from her father. It basically explained what the library really was, as well as all the secret passageways out should worst come to worst.

'_I'm so very sorry I won't be there to see you grow and mature into the beautiful young woman you are sure to become. I can only hope that someday, you will understand why. There are many things I would like to say to you; how much I love you, how much I will miss you and your Mum and sister, and what the future will hold for you. I'm sure you will be able to handle anything this life will be sure to throw at you, Éclair. I'd bet my life on it._

_I am confident you will outlive me by a long stretch, but I hope to see you even when you won't be able to see me._

_I'll miss you, Éclair,_

_Your loving father.'_

She folded the note and put it into her jacket pocket. She felt a little sick; the aftereffects of sensing ghosts, she supposed. She pressed her hand against the back of the vault, activating a secret compartment within it. It opened to reveal a black mass. She pulled it out and saw that it was actually clothing, black clothing made from bullet-proof fabrics.

_He really did think of everything, _she thought wryly, and closed the vault door.

She still didn't understand why her father had given all of this to her, and not to her mother, who would've been the worthier candidate at the time, simply because she was older, and therefore more mature. Hell, Lightning was only ten when he'd first showed her this! He must've been planning this for a long time, but unless he could see the future back then…

_Oh, come on. No. my Dad was not a psychic._

_But it was the only way he could've known, _a little voice whispered inside her head.

_This is insane!_

_So is your apparent ability to sense the souls of the dead._

Lightning groaned. That little voice had a very good point. How else could he have known?

_There has to be a more probable reason why he knew all this was going to happen. Think, Farron! _But no other reasoning came to mind. For now, that incessant little voice had a victory. For now.

_Ring, ring! Ring, ring! _

Oh Jesus, she'd forgotten about her new job. Was she late? She took the phone out of her pocket before remembering that she'd put it on silent.

_Ring, ring! Ring, ring!_

_That's not my phone…_Lightning looked the place over, but she couldn't see anyone. She'd have heard them open the portrait door, would've heard them coming down the stairs. Right?

_Oh Lord. The passageways! Someone else must know about them. But who…?_

She vaulted down the steps to the main floor, looking for the source of the ringing. She finally found it: a not-so-modern cell phone on the table next to the armchair. It was covered in dust. Lightning picked it up, and it went silent. She blew on the phone to get rid of the dust covering it and immediately recognised it. It was her father's phone.

She slumped in relief. She was genuinely uncomfortable about what could have potentially happened if anyone she didn't trust knew about this place.

Wait. What was her father's phone doing down here?

She'd have to worry about that later. It was time to go.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: No, I'm not dead, yes, I'm continuing all of my stories, and no, there is not a damn thing you can do about it!**_

_**See you all next time, Kupos!**_


	9. Respite

_**A/N: Yep, it's been a while. Don't worry; I'm getting my shit together…slowly. I'm just focusing more on 'Better Days' and its prequel. The first few chapters of BD are already re-written, and I've got four chapters in stasis for BD's prequel, so I thought I'd post this up as a reward for everyone who's been waiting so very patiently and putting up with all my crap.**_

_**Chapter nine, woot! Have fun with this one :)**_

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><p>Lightning quickly ascended the spiral staircase back up to the house, her hand still clutching her father's cell phone, her mind spinning to match her pace. She still could not get her mind to process what exactly had just happened. She had had a conversation with her long-dead father; found out that two of her friends was not what she thought she was from said dead father and found a good amount of stuff to help her fight a battle, it seems, as well as received advice from him to trust Arianna despite her lies. Well, at least she knew now that her gut feeling was the way to go when it came to her.<p>

She hurriedly scrambled up the last few steps, opened the door, turned off the light and shut the door again. When she turned back around she was face-to-face with Serah, who eyed her with a suspicious expression on her face.

"Hey, Serah," Lightning greeted, her face expressionless. She raised an eyebrow when Serah did not immediately start demanding answers. Instead, she started off with, "So you found Dad's room?"

This time, both of Lightning's eyebrows raised, but in surprise instead of expectation. "But…how do you –?"

"He showed it to me while you and Mom were out shopping one time. It was just before he died," Serah explained. She then smiled sadly. "It's the only concrete memory I have of him. Stupid isn't it, especially when it wasn't one of his best days?"

Lightning could only nod. "Then I have one question: why did he tell me not to tell you, when he was only going to show you anyway?"

Serah shrugged. Lightning was surprised at how mature Serah was acting about all of this. "It seems, now that I really think about it; he wasn't actually planning to show me. I had just come downstairs to look for him, and he was coming out of the same door you just walked out of, through the wall with the picture. He must've decided to tell me right there and then." She sighed. The silence that came afterward alerted Lightning to the sound of voices upstairs. She could easily detect Vanille's bubbly, chirpy voice, and the other voice was male, but sounded familiar to her. And then it clicked: Serah was supposed to be at the park hanging out with Vanille and Hope.

_Guess they came back here for something, _Lightning mused. And then her eyes widened. If Serah was back here already…

"Serah, what time is it?" she asked urgently.

Serah looked vaguely surprised, but answered readily enough, "It's around 1 in the afternoon. Why?"

Serah didn't manage to get an answer. Lightning immediately pushed past her sister and headed out the door.

"Well that was weird," Serah mused to herself before heading back upstairs, where an equally weird sight met her eyes: Vanille, instead of sitting on the armchair in the corner where she was sure she'd left her, was now sitting on Hope, in the centre of the room.

"Um, do I have to ask?" Serah inquired, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"He stole my lollipop and I'm trying to get it back," Vanille answered matter-of-factly.

"Um, actually, I didn't even realise it was yours in the first place," Hope corrected. "She just left it on the table, and I was looking at it, and I was going to ask if it was hers, and then she just grabbed me, pushed me to the floor and demanded I give it back, saying I'd 'stolen' it," he directed at Serah. "Can you get her off of me? I can't breathe!"

"Ok, Vanille, your fun's over," Serah stated, walking over to them and pulling Vanille up and off of Hope, who gasped in as much air as he could.

"Wait a minute! I didn't get my lollipop back!" If she was about to say more, no-one knew, because a lollipop sailed through the air and hit the side of her temple.

"Hey! What was –? My lollipop!" Vanille exclaimed, picking it up and hugging it. Serah turned to Hope, who had his arm extended on the floor.

"I think I'll just lie here for a while," Hope murmured into the carpet. "She really can squish people well when she wants to."

Serah raised an eyebrow sceptically. "She isn't that bad, Hope. Sure, her butt's really bony –"

"Hey!"

Serah ignored the red-headed girl and turned back to Hope to continue, "But she really doesn't have much weight on her."

"She was forcing much more of her weight on me than was really necessary," Hope's voice was muffled by the carpet, but Serah got the gist of what he was saying.

"That's a habit of hers. You'll get used to it."

"He won't have to if he doesn't steal any more of my things!" Vanille interrupted, miffed.

"Vanille, it was a lollipop. You didn't have to squish him over it," Serah replied calmly. If you didn't know either of them well, you'd have assumed that it was Vanille who had consumed the coffee earlier, not Serah. "And besides, where'd you get the thing, anyway?"

"I bought it."

"With what money?"

"Mine."

As the girls argued, Hope slowly half-crawled, half-dragged over to the lounge, where he collapsed with an arm thrown over his eyes so all he could see was darkness.

_Well, that was stressful, _he thought.

**…**

Serah looked over to Hope, astonished that he hadn't said a word to intervene in the girls' little spat yet. Upon further inspection, she found that Hope had fallen asleep on the couch, of all places. She tilted her head to the side, and a wonderful idea came into being inside her mind.

"Vanille," she breathed, then pointed in Hope's direction, who was completely and blissfully unaware of what the girls were about to do. Vanille grinned; she was completely sure that what she was thinking precisely mirrored the strawberry-blonde's thoughts. Together, they snuck out of the lounge room and into Serah's where she had a lot of toys that _just so happened_ to talk or perform an action when desired, by pressing a button somewhere on the toy. Serah looked at Vanille inquisitively whilst holding up her moogle toy, which spoke rather loudly and whose bobble lit up as it spoke. Vanille shook her head and pointed to the cactuar doll in the corner, which had a button-activated needle attack similar to the real thing. Serah grinned, immediately set the moogle toy down on the bed, and proceeded to follow Vanille back out into the lounge room, where Hope was still asleep, where they had a silent argument about who would do it. They finally agreed that Serah would do the honours, since it was her toy, her house, and therefore, her rules.

Serah cautiously approached Hope, who was still sleeping, on her tippy-toes. She pressed the button on the cactuar doll, and little plastic needles were fired from the doll's arms, hitting Hope and jolting him awake. His hair was a mess, his clothes were rumpled, and his eyes were wide.

"Morning, Sunshine!" Vanille trilled, and the girls burst out laughing. What made it funnier to them was that it wasn't even morning – and Hope said so.

"Who cares? It was still funny!" Vanille replied in between laughs.

"Oh, I wish I had a camera!" Serah added, before they both doubled over with laughter.

Nobody liked people – especially your good friends – laughing at your own expense. Then again, nobody liked being woken up by a cactuar doll, either. As a result, Hope wasn't in a great mood by the time Serah and Vanille were done laughing.

"Oh, cheer up, Hope!" Vanille chirped happily, noticing his less-than-happy expression.

"It was just a joke, Hope," Serah pointed out.

"That doesn't change the fact that – oh, never mind," Hope grumbled.

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><p>Lightning was annoyed. She thought that she would be able to start training, as in <em>really<em> training, with a sword or a gun. Instead, she was stuck with a secretary job while she did her psyche and physical evaluations. 'Just to be sure,' they said, 'we need to know that you are both physically and mentally capable of becoming a soldier.' She understood, sure, but that didn't mean she liked it. In fact, she really didn't like it. But a job is a job. _And besides, _she thought, _at least I'll be able to bring in some money for us, help pay the bills._

She hated how annoyingly like Vanille she sounded, even in her own head. Being positive wasn't exactly her forte. She shook her head ruefully. She would just have to suck it up while she let her superior-and-company bury her in files.

Finally, after she had had her eyes glued to a computer screen for hours, sorting files varying in interest into a somewhat organisable list to be printed the next day, Lieutenant Amodar, the one who was to be doing her physical evaluation sometime during the next week walked through the door bearing good news.

"Miss Farron, you are free to go." Lightning had never heard words that heavenly. She hastily thanked the chubby, spirited Lieutenant and packed up, but before she could make it out the door, she heard him say, "I hated the desk job too, when I first started."

Lightning stopped and turned to Amodar, who looked back at her with amusement glinting in his honey-brown eyes. "Am I that transparent?" Lightning asked, tacking on the word, "Sir," as an afterthought.

Amodar's smile grew wider. "Not to worry. Soon enough, you'll have the pleasure of training with the other Cadets. Give it a month or so, you'll see." Lightning nodded and was just turning to go when Amodar said, "I knew your father, you know. Fantastic soldier. He was the one who trained me."

Lightning stopped again, suddenly desperate to hear more of her father, but Amodar just cleared his throat and repeated, "Fantastic soldier. I'm sure you'll do him proud."

Lightning turned to face him, giving him a salute. "Yes sir."

Amodar returned the salute and said, "You may go now."

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><p>"Hey, Hope? How's that thing on your wrist?" Serah asked as she set the book she was rereading – <em>Graceling,<em> by Kristen Cashore – down onto the seat next to her. Hope looked up from his place on the floor, trying to get some of his assignment done.

"This?" he replied, taking off his yellow kerchief – which he always had tied around his left wrist now – and showing the brand on his skin. It had grown an eye in the centre since he had last looked at it. The brand stirred images from Serah's childhood – when her father was still alive. She had once gone down into her father's secret room after he had died. She had climbed up the stairs and looked down onto her favourite rug after reading about Cocoon's historic feud with Pulse, and she saw that the black and different shades of red made a brand very similar to the one on Hope's wrist and her upper right arm.

"It doesn't hurt, which is good. I just wish I knew what it was _for_," Hope said wistfully. He held out his left hand and looked at it. Suddenly, a ball of fire materialised in his hand. He yelped, standing up, and the fire went out instantly.

"Hope, you okay?" Serah asked quickly.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?" Serah and Hope quickly turned to see Vanille come up the steps almost silently. Usually, she was the noisiest, least stealthy people Serah knew.

Hope silently held out his left hand and stared at it again, concentration apparent on his face as the two teenage girls watched. Almost immediately, a ball of fire popped into existence, hovering slightly off his hand. Vanille and Serah gasped.

"That's so cool!" Vanille exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Do you think all of us can do that? I mean…" Hope nodded, understanding what Serah was trying to say. They all had that freaky mark on them. Maybe they all could do it.

"That would just be so cool…but…"

"Serah! I'm home!" Lightning's voice floated up to them from downstairs. "Could you help with some groceries?"

"Yeah, sure! Hang on a second!" Serah turned to Hope and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You have to show what you just did to Lightning!"

"M-me? But I…"

"Serah!"

"Come on, Hope!"

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><p><em><strong>Ha, chappie done! Be sure to read, follow, favourite, review, etc. my other stories too! I'll get them back up and running as soon as I can, I promise!<strong>_

_**Ciao for now!**_

_**0yF**_


	10. IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE!

I'm incredibly, incredibly sorry for the sporadic updates, the excuses, EVERYTHING! The real world's crazily unpredictable at times, especially when you're working out your problems. The drama at school's getting worse, and it's not helping my writing AT ALL.

I'm going to go through the story chapters I've put up and, with the help of my close friend, Seeker Of The Skies, improve upon them. The reason? I truly have no idea where I want this to head, plus it's pretty sloppily-written. So, I'm going to go through it and re-write it. Then I'm going to finish the story and post it. No, I am not abandoning this story, and I never will. I just want to fix it up, tweak it and finish it before posting so you guys can actually have reliable updates. I'll tell you when I'm updating again, if you're still interested in this like I am.

Again, I'm so sorry for everything! I'll see you guys when everything's done with, okay?

I can't apologise or thank you enough for sticking with me through this.

~ 0yF


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